Stranger & Stranger
by Dawn FD
Summary: Children are going missing in Bayport, and the police are completely at a loss - sounds like a job for the Hardy Boys!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Joe Hardy and Frank Hardy eyed one another across the breakfast table like two gunslingers about to partake in a fast draw. Joe's eyes narrowed, his blue eyes now looking through a tiny pigeonhole in his head. Frank dropped his chin and stared up through his dark eyelashes and licked the corner of his mouth.

"I totally dare ya!" Joe growled.

"Never ever dare me, little brother," Frank said and shot his hand forward across the table.

Joe automatically went for his brother's wrist and grabbed hold to stop him, but Frank other hand was already making a lunge to grab the last waffle successfully from the table.

Grinning triumphantly, Frank leaned towards Joe. "And to the victor, the spoils!" he taunted, and bit into the waffle. Melted butter ran down his chin and dripped onto his clean shirt. "No," he shouted, spitting crumbs. "This shirt's brand new!"

"Serves you right," laughed Joe, ducking the sticky projectiles. "Dude - pleasure is _always_ followed by pain – you should know that by now!"

"And a smart mouth is _always_ followed by a fat lip, bro!" said Frank

Joe pursed his lips together, "Aw, scary".

Sons of internationally famous private investigator Fenton Hardy, 18-year-old Frank stood 6'1 with dark hair and brown eyes, as opposed to the fair-haired Joe who was a mere inch shorter. Both brothers were physically fit, but 17-year-old Joe was a muscular build against Frank's more athletic leanness.

Frank sighed and rubbed at the stain with his sleeve, spreading it further. Tutting, he walked toward the front door and left the house to collect the Bayport Times from the front lawn. As usual the paper was damp from the morning dew so he slapped it against his hip to remove grass cuttings before returning to the house. He sat down at the breakfast table, snipped the string from around the paper and began to read the front-page story.

After a couple of minutes, he suddenly piped up with: "This sucks…"

"What sucks?" Joe asked.

"Another kid's gone missing. According to the newspaper that makes three children, all under the age of five, and all from the Bayport area. It was a little girl this time. She was only four years old, her parents must be frantic."

Joe shook his head in bewilderment. "Any further update on the other missing children? Are they any closer to catching the creeps responsible?"

"Nope, doesn't look like it, listen to this: _'A Spokesman for the Bayport Police stated yesterday that they were following up on some promising leads' - t_hat's cop-talk for _'we haven't got a clue'_"

"Well, they'd better get clued up quick, there are a lot of very angry and worried parents out there," commented Joe.

His brother nodded in agreement.

There came a knock at the door and they looked up to see Vanessa and Callie waving madly through the window. Joe raised himself from the table to let them in.

"Hi guys," greeted tall, ash-blonde-haired Vanessa, Joe's pretty girlfriend. She planted a kiss on Joe's mouth and smiled at Frank, her eyes automatically lowering to the stain on his chest.

Callie, Frank's shorter, fair-haired girlfriend also looked at his shirt and quipped, "Looking good Frank! Setting Bayport's catwalks alive with another one of your style ideas I see." she raised an eyebrow. "Better watch out, or the fashion cops will be after you."

Frank lunged playfully at her and she dodged away, laughing. "I'm not putting up with this all day, I'm going to change into a clean shirt." He turned tale and mounted the stair to head for his bedroom.

Callie followed him up and stood in the doorway watching.

Frank looked up sharply, suddenly sensing her presence. "Babe? What are you doing up here? It's lucky Mom and Dad are out-of-town, or I'd be in big trouble."

"Well they are, and your not, and anyway, I was enjoying the view."

Frank smiled and reddened and began quickly buttoning up his clean shirt. "Yeah, well…"

"Anyway, the reason me and Vanessa dropped by was to ask if you and Joe would like to accompany us on a picnic, it's forecast sunny weather and it would be shame to waste it"

"Sounds good".

They put the finishing touches to their picnic basket and headed out of the door. Vanessa de-activated the car alarm on her red, compact sedan and they loaded all the gear into the trunk and piled in.

Arriving at the park, they unpacked the car again and hiked through the trees. Settling on a suitably secluded spot. Callie threw the rug down and they all slumped down onto it.

Joe lay back with his hands behind his head and yawned loudly. "I think I'll just relax, and allow the women folk to go about their work. What say you, dude?"

"Yep, sounds good to me," agreed Frank, mirroring his brother's position. "You heard the man, get to it ladies, feed us!" Callie leapt atop Frank, pinning his arms beneath her knees. "Humph! Hey careful woman, you'll hurt yourself," he teased.

"You asked for this," cried Callie, and began to mercilessly tickle Frank -and Frank was _very_ ticklish.

"Hey no, no don't," he begged in between gasps of laughter.

"Tell me more," she laughed. Frank arched his back, and she came flying off.

Joe and Vanessa rolled their eyes at each other and looked on in amusement.

Frank quickly rolled on top of the now breathless Callie, pinning her arms to the ground. "Get off - you great oaf, you're squashing me!"

"Aw, come on," said Frank. "I'm a lightweight by comparison."

"You cheeky devil – get off me!" demanded Callie and tried to wriggle out from under him. Frank was much too heavy and strong however, and she was quickly forced to concede.

"And now, my-Lady, a kiss from those sweet cherry-red lips".

"Man, I think I'm gonna be sick," said Joe. Vanessa pretended to stick two fingers down his throat and made a retching sound.

Frank was leaning forward to claim his prize when a high-pitch scream ripped through the still air. Callie froze under him and their eyes locked together in shock.

Joe immediately sat upright and stared towards the trees, the hairs on the back of his neck rising.

"What was that?" whispered Vanessa, obviously spooked, she momentarily clung to Joe's muscular arm - even the birds had ceased their song.

Frank and Joe slowly turned to look at one another, a silent message passing between them.

Then came the second shrill scream.

Joe was immediately on his feet and running in the direction of the sound, seconds later plunging headlong into the woodland. Frank very close behind him once he was free of Callie's weight. The girls followed on, listening to the continued screaming.

Joe broke through the trees and took in the scene before him. A man was manhandling a crying and screaming child towards a delivery truck parked on the car lot with its back doors open.

"Hey!" shouted Joe, losing no time in moving towards them. "Let the kid go!"

The man glanced over his shoulder and began to run with the boy towards the waiting vehicle. He was no match for Joe, however, who caught up with him in seconds, clamping a hand on his shoulder to spin him around. "I don't think you heard me right, dude. I said, let the kid go," he repeated with a warning tone to the stocky, red-haired man.

"This is my son, and I would be grateful if you'd keep out of my private family affairs."

Joe glanced at the child's tear streaked, panic stricken face. His mouth was gaping in fear. "In that case, you won't object to me calling the cops, and you can explain your _family_ matter to them?" his hand reached into his pocket, intending on extracting his cell phone.

The man was opening his mouth to continue the argument when he spied Frank break through the trees. He lifted the boy up high and flung him at Joe, turned and ran.

Joe caught the boy in his free arm and hit the ground with a loud 'humph'. He'd taken the weight of the boy into his body, using himself as a natural shock absorber so the child wouldn't hopefully be hurt. "Frank, get him, bro!" he shouted and immediately turned his attention to checking the boy wasn't injured.

Frank hurtled passed his younger brother to tackle the man.

The man dashed onto the parking lot with Frank at his heels and launched himself at the vehicle's back entrance. Unfortunately, he seriously misjudging the distance and hit the edge of the truck's footplate with his stomach, all the air whooshed out of him at once. He went down, momentarily winded, allowing Frank the opportunity to put him in a hold and pin him firmly to the asphalt.

Meanwhile, Vanessa had reached Joe and was bending down to gently lift the boy from him. She hugged him to her and reassured him as best she could, turning his face away from the scene. "It's okay, your safe with us, don't cry".

Joe jumped up to his feet with the intention of pitching in to help his brother, but before he could, the shrieking started…

Callie was standing at the edge of the grass, screaming, Frank was down on the ground and there was blood all over the ground, spreading out thickly – blood, presumably, from a head wound.

A second, previously unseen man was standing over him with a huge wrench in his hand. He stood at least 6'3, with a shaven head and had an angry scar running along his cheekbone. He pulled Frank's head back by the hair and readied himself to strike again.

"NO!" roared Callie and jumped on his back, punching at him with her fists. He shook her roughly off onto the road, grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and yanking her forward. She placed her hands over her face and flinched as he raised the weapon in the air. Out the corner of his eye he suddenly spied Joe moving at speed toward him. Taking in Joe's large physical frame, he instantly lost interest in hurting Callie and thrust her aside before leaping up into the passenger seat of the vehicle.

Joe jumped over Frank's inert body and, without a second thought to anything other than revenge for his brother, ran snarling round the side of the truck, grabbed the wing mirror and lifting himself up onto the step plate. The van immediately sped off with the back doors swinging, and screeched around the corner of the Jefferson Park gateway with Joe still clinging onto the door.

"JOE!" shouted a panicked Vanessa running with the boy still clinging to her as the van disappeared out of sight.

Ignoring the scenery whipping by, Joe looked at the two men inside.

The redhead at the wheel grinned menacingly at him and then laughed and tipped a thumb over his shoulder mockingly towards where they'd just come from, which was all the further provocation Joe needed to tip him over the edge and into a red-rage.

Joe drew his fist back and smashed it straight through the side window. The men inside ducking as glass shattered all around them, the driver momentarily losing concentration and sending the delivery truck in to a violent swerve. Joe clung on tenaciously, adrenaline numbing the pain from the deep cuts he'd just inflicted on his own hand and arm. He hauled himself halfway through the now empty window space and grabbed the driver by the throat. "STOP THE TRUCK" he yelled into his face.

The man's expression was now one of fear and panic, his driving becoming increasingly erratic, the truck sweeping from side-to-side.

Joe put his other arm into the cab and reached for the ignition key to try and turn the engine off. Before he could accomplish this feat, however, the driver's collaborator reached across and grabbed at Joe's hand that was still around his friend's throat. He selected Joe's little finger and bent it back until the rest of his fingers started to loosen, until eventually Joe whole hand was free. The man then leant forward in the seat and punched Joe violently in the face.

Joe felt his body beginning to slide back out through the window and reached blindly for something to grab onto, his eyes streaming. His fingers latched onto the wing mirror again, his one foot still on the footplate. His whole upper body swung out and then suddenly and without warning, the vehicle skidded to a halt and Joe was flung forward, sailing through the air.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

**Chapter 2**

Joe awoke from his foggy world, confused as to why he hurt so badly. He bought his hand up and touched his sore face tentatively. _"Where am I?"_ he wondered dumbly.

He opened his eyes and the world proceeded to swim, making him feel nauseous and forcing him to have to swallow down the bitter taste of bile that formed instantly in his throat. He closed his eyes again lay there for a few more seconds trying to collect his thoughts, confusing images playing out in his head – a boy's tearful face, chasing someone, Frank running, Callie screaming. With a sudden jolt, everything came flooding back. "Frank…" he whispered.

He successfully opened his eyes and found he was lying in tall grass. In the far distance he could hear police and ambulance sirens and then also detected the noise of another vehicle passing slowly by, close to where he was lying. He sat up – a little too quickly – and the world began to spin and tip again. Closing his eyes hard and opening them again, he found he was finally able to focus properly. He mentally tested his body and decided that he was not too badly hurt.

Then the pain started in his arm. "Man!" he whispered inspecting his ruined hand. Blood was running down his forearm and seeping into his shirt and he could see shards of glass imbedded in the skin. He pushed the pain to the back of his mind and concentrated on getting to his feet. _"I must get to Frank,"_ he thought urgently. He unsteadily climbed to his feet cradling his arm, took a few faltering steps, tripped, and landed on his knees. He dropped his head to catch his breath before trying again to get to his feet, this time successfully.

He realised he'd been lying in a ditch by the side of the road and had luckily landed in long, soft foliage - he thought how lucky it had been that it had not rained in the last few days, or else the ditch would have been full of water, and he would have surely drowned.

Scrambling back into the road he got his bearings and began to trudge slowly back towards the noise of the sirens. After a little while, he attempted to jog in order to save time, but this only served to make his head swim again so he was forced to satisfied himself with walking.

A little while later he heard the sound of a vehicle approaching from the rear. He stopped and looked back, seeing a squad car slowly rounding the bend. It came to a halt and, in relief; Joe slumped down to a seated position on the ground. The doors opened, and Officer Con Riley and his female partner, Officer Anderson climbed out and rushed towards him.

Officer Con Riley was Frank and Joe's closest ally in the police force and a close personal friend to their father. He often helped them out on cases – usually to his own detriment if Police Chief Colliq found out!

"Joe, were you ever a sight for sore eyes!" Con exclaimed with relief. "We've been driving up and down this road for the passed twenty minutes looking for you, we were starting to believe they'd taken you with them. How hurt are you?"

"How's Frank?" Joe asked ignoring the question.

"First things first, let's take a look at that arm," Riley insisted crouching down.

"No, tell me about Frank."

"Okay," sighed Riley. "But there's not much _to_ tell at this stage. Frank's been taken by ambulance, and the hospital's been put on emergency standby to receive him".

"How did he look when you saw him?"

"Joe, I'm a cop not a doctor…"

Joe glared at his friend, making it pretty plain that he wanted some sort of answer.

"Okay," Con said, caving in and raising his palms placatingly. "I'm not going to lie to you, kiddo, Frank didn't look great and they rushed him away in an ambulance pretty swiftly. But they didn't tell me anything so you'll have to wait until you hear news from Bayport General – which is exactly where you should be by the looks of you."

The two police officers took Joe by an arm each to help him to his feet and then walked him to the squad car. Joe was put into the back and Con climbed in beside him. Anderson radioed ahead that they'd located him and were transporting him back to the park.

"That's quite a black eye you're developing there, Joe," said Riley with concern. He then Indicated towards Joe's arm and asked, "How did that happen?"

"Let's just say I had a little argument with a truck window!" Joe replied, gently inspecting his swollen and speedily closing eye with his fingers. "But that's the least of my worries at the moment - where are Vanessa and Callie?" he asked.

"Vanessa's back at the park waiting for you, and Callie went in the ambulance with Frank – quite the little heroine from what we've been hearing," Riley added with admiration.

"Yeah. I think she probably saved Frank's life today," nodded Joe in agreement. "What happened to the little boy?"

"He was also taken to the general for a check-up, but physically, we don't believe he was harmed."

"What's his story?"

Officer Anderson caught Joe's eye in the rear-view mirror through the dividing mesh. "His name's Luke Cummins, he was snatched from under his mother's nose whilst playing in the park. It was lucky you guys happened along when you did."

"What's the possibility that they were the same people who've been have snatching those other children?"

"A very good one—identical M.O. in each case."

Joe shook his head in disbelief. "He told me he was the kid's father!"

Riley raised an eyebrow "He lied to you."

The journey was so long that Joe was stunned by the length of time he must have clung to the truck being flung off. They finally turned the corner and entered the park where there was an ambulance waiting and a number of other squad cars. Riley got out and turned to help Joe, gesturing towards a medic.

Vanessa saw the car and ran forward. "Thank heavens, you really scared me," she said, gently kissing his injured face. She looked deathly pale. "What happened?"

"It's a long story."

"And one that _we_ would like to hear, but later – let the paramedics through to do their job Vanessa," Riley ordered gently, pulling her to the side.

The ambulance staff came forward with a gurney, but Joe stubbornly refused to lie down, insisting instead on walking. He climbed onto the back of the ambulance and took a seat whilst a medic inspected his injuries and Vanessa joined him sucking in her breath when she saw the nasty injury to his hand and arm.

His arm was wrapped loosely with gauze dressing to protect the glass fragments from being forced any further into the skin.

"I'm afraid you're going to need that stitched," commented the medic.

Joe gazed at the large pool of blood on the ground where Frank had been attacked. It was now circled with chalk and police forensic officers were taking photographs and notes. "Vanessa, what happened to Frank…I just don't understand?" he asked.

"I probably saw about as much as _you_ did at the time as I was too concerned with Luke to take much notice of what was going on around me. But Callie filled me in before she left for the hospital. You know, of course, what occurred up until I lifted Luke off you?" Joe nodded. "Well apparently, the guy Frank went after attempted to leap into the rear of the van, but was pretty clumsy about it and went down and Frank was then able to put him in an arm-lock. But there was a second guy, a driver, and he came to rescue his buddy – and he used a huge wrench," Vanessa eyes started to swim with tears. "Frank just didn't see him coming, and took a hit to the side of the head. If Callie hadn't reacted as fast as she did, he'd be dead now because the guy was going to hit him again!" she started to cry properly and Joe felt a lump form in his throat.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he spat, angry with himself. "With all the experience we've gained in our many cases, I didn't even stop for a second to consider that there must have been more than one guy!"

"Come on Joe, we all reacted in exactly the same way, including Frank. And you know he never reacts without thinking through all the possible consequences first! There was a child in trouble and we all just jumped into action. It's easy to be retrospective, but what is important now is that we get you to the General and find out exactly what's happening with Frank".

The ambulance doors were slammed shut and they were on their way.

Joe had no choice but to get into a wheelchair at the hospital and was wheeled into an empty cubicle. "Can you find out how my brother is?" he asked the orderly who had been pushing the chair.

The orderly looked confused. "You're brother? But you came in with a girl," he said gesturing with his thumb towards Vanessa.

"No, you don't understand," said Joe, exasperated. "He was brought in earlier, his name is Frank – Frank Hardy – with a head injury?"

"I don't know anything about that I'm afraid, but I'll find out for you," he promised.

A nurse passed him in the doorway and approached Joe with a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut through his shirt sleeve. When done she said. "A doctor will be along to see you shortly, meanwhile I really do think you should get up onto the bed and take a rest."

Joe thought about refusing, but realised how beat up he actually felt and decided maybe it would be a good idea after all. After all, there was little he could do now until the orderly returned with news on Frank.

Joe opened his eyes and realised that he must have dozed for a couple of minutes, Vanessa was sitting next to him holding his hand. "Hey, sleepy head," she smiled.

"Welcome back champ," said another voice. Joe looked over surprised to find Chet Morton, his best friend, standing by the curtain opening. "Nice shiner, man!"

Joe took in Chet's appearance; he was, unsurprisingly, chomping on a chocolate bar, his huge frame filling the curtained doorway. Looking down he realised suddenly that his arm felt constricted and found it was bandaged from his elbow down to his fingers and held in a sling, he looked enquiringly at Vanessa.

"They did that whilst you were asleep, you went out like a light, the doctor said your body needed the rest as you had taken such a beating. Loads of stitches by the way, you're like a patchwork quilt."

"Wait a sec…how long was I out for?"

"Two hours".

"What? Why did you let me sleep? What's happening with Frank?"

Vanessa looked startled and Chet embarrassed. "Keep the voice down Champ, people are looking."

Joe snorted, swung his legs off the trolley and stomped out into the corridor. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?" he demanded.

A nurse hurried forward with a 'no-nonsense' expression on her face, but Joe took a step backwards away from her reaching arms.

"I want to speak to someone in authority about my brother" he demanded.

"The doctor wants you to be admitted for 24 hours for observation—please get back onto the bed," the nurse begged.

Joe shook his head defiantly. Seeing she was not going to sway him, she compromised and agreed that if he got back into the wheelchair Vanessa and Chet could push him to the hospital wing where his brother was being treated.

_"At last," _Joe thought._ "Some action."_

"Biff is with Callie," said Chet pushing the wheelchair. "She called us just after Frank was admitted."

Biff Hooper was Frank's closest friend. Markedly taller than Frank, he was a star on Bayport High's baseball team.

They entered the waiting area to witness Biff hugging Callie who was crying. A lanky, spectacled, balding doctor was speaking to them.

"What's happening?" demanded Joe, climbing out of the wheelchair again.

"Joe, it's great to see you," Callie said between sobs.

"Are you okay Cal?" asked Joe. "Last time I saw you, you were grappling with a goon."

Callie gave him a watering smile. "I'm okay, just a stupid scrapped elbow."

The doctor addressed Joe. "Am I correct in assuming you're Frank Hardy's brother?" he enquired.

"Yes, I'm Joe."

"I'm Doctor Green, I've been treating Frank since he was admitted. Could I ask you to accompany me to a separate room so we may talk privately."

"I want my friends to come with me," said Joe, firmly and waved the other four forward.

Doctor Green led them into a small office and he gestured for Joe to take a seat. "From what your friend Callie's been telling me, she witnessed Frank receiving a hefty knock to the head with a large weapon?" Callie nodded in agreement. "Well, the impact of the wrench caused a large tear to his scalp and we had to transfuse him with several units of blood in order to stabilize him before we took him for an MRI scan. I'm happy to be able to tell you that amazingly we found no fracture."

Joe breathed a sign of relief.

Doctor Green continued. "In normal circumstances, I would have expected your brother to have regained consciousness within the first hour, but for some reason that's failed to happen. I've not yet been able to ascertain an absolute reason for this, but there _is_ an amount of internal swelling around the brain which may account for the delay in his recovery."

Joe swallowed "How bad is it Dr Green?"

There was a considered pause before the answer. "I'd advise you to contact your immediate family urgently."

The room was silent.

Joe was horrified. "Could he die?" he asked in a small, strangled voice.

"That's always a possibility with _any_ head injury—especially the type of violent injury your brother sustained. We'll know more if, and when, your brother regains consciousness. Again, all I can advise is that you get in touch with your family."

"Can I see him?" asked Joe.

"Yes, but family only. I must warn you that he's hooked up to various machines, so ready yourself for what you are going to see, I'll have a nurse show you the way".

"Thanks Doctor. Chet, can you give Con Riley a ring and ask him to contact my Dad, this is the hotel's number where their staying." He took a pen from the doctor's desk and scribbled down both that number and Con's cell phone number, his hand shaking.

"Sure thing, Joe." Chet gave his shoulder a squeeze and then picked up the phone.

Joe exited the room and an Italian looking nurse beckoned him to follow her and lead him into his brother's room. Despite the Doctor's words of warning, Joe was still ill prepared for the sight that met him.

Frank was stretched out on the bed, his heart was being monitored and there were two IV tubes in his arm. The whole right side of his face was bruised black and blue. _"Matching black eyes – Snap,"_ thought Joe humourlessly. He listened to the peeping of the heart monitor as he slowly approached the bed. He stopped short; noticing for the first time that Frank's wavy hair had been removed from one side of his head. There was an angry looking line of stitches reaching from his temple to behind his ear. Joe pivoted on his heels and rushed to the nearest restroom, fell into a stall, and vomited into the pan, Biff running in after him.

His friend supported him whilst he heaved. When he was spent, he sat back onto the polished floor and pulled his knees up under his chin. "You should see him Biff, that's my brother in there, my brother_._ He didn't deserve that!"

Biff's jaw clenched tightly. "Joe, I'll make you this promise. The guy who did this to him is gonna pay, we're gonna catch him…one way or another…we're gonna catch him and then he'll wish he'd never crossed Frank Hardy's path!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 1

Biff and Joe stood in the rest room together. Joe looking at his own reflection in the glass, a stranger looked back at him. He splashed some cold water onto his face and Biff handed him a paper towel.

"You feeling better?" asked Biff

"Not really."

"Sorry…stupid question."

After a long pause, he asked. "Joe, what shall we do?"

Joe shrugged his shoulders resignedly, "What _can_ we do? The bad-guys got away and Frank is out of action - maybe permanently."

"Don't write him off" snapped Biff. "He's a fighter - made of sterner stuff than that".

Joe looked at him miserably. "You haven't seen him."

Biff opened his mouth to add something, but changed his mind.

"I'm going back to Frank, he shouldn't be alone," Joe decided.

Biff nodded and accompanied him into the corridor. He clapped Joe on the shoulder and they parted company.

Joe felt more prepared the second time he entered Frank's room. Pulling up a chair next to the bed, he sat down and placed his hand on Frank's arm and stared silently at his Brother's inert face.

Biff loitered for a couple of minutes in the corridor to make sure his friend was okay. Finally, satisfied Joe wasn't going to come out of Frank's room again, he went back to join the others to tell them what had transpired. Vanessa wanted to go to Joe and comfort him.

"No, don't worry, he's calm now and back in the room with Frank." He looked from face-to-face. "I think it's time we discussed the next plan of action."

"What do you mean?" asked Chet.

"How we're going to catch the guys' responsible," answered Biff.

"That's Hardy-territory."

They looked at each other helplessly.

Callie suggested. "Maybe we should ask ourselves what Frank and Joe would be doing if they were here?"

"That's easier said then done," said Chet. He stood and began to pace the room thoughtfully. They all watched until he finally flung up his arms in frustration. "I think we can agree on one thing" everyone looked at him expectantly. "We definitely need Joe's assistance".

"That's not going to be easy," said Biff. "Unless we can find a way of re-igniting his torch."

They sat in silence for a little while considering the options available to them. Chet slumped back into the chair and chomped down on a fingernail and Biff leaned back and looked out the window thoughtfully.

Suddenly, Vanessa sat up straight and looked excitedly at Callie, "I think I know how we could get Joe back on track!"

"How?"

They huddled together eagerly as she outlined her plan to them.

Joe heard a noise and look round, the Italian looking nurse had quietly entered the room to check Frank's IVs. She smiled at him reassuringly. "He's doing just fine," she said straightened the blankets. "I'll be back again later, stay as long as you like, the red button at the side of the bed is the emergency alarm, don't hesitate to use it if necessary".

"Thanks" said Joe.

She hesitated at the doorway and turned back. "Would you like a coffee, you look like you could use one?"

"That would be great, thanks", said Joe.

"And an cold-compress for your eye?"

"That would be even better."

He was still sitting with his brother when he heard the sound of his parents' voices drifting down the corridor. He squeezed Frank's hand and walked out into the hallway with the ice bag held against his face.

"Joe?" exclaimed Fenton Hardy shocked at his son's physical appearance, "What on earth have you got yourselves embroiled in now?" he demanded in a raised voice.

He stopped and looked guiltily at his father. "I'm sorry Dad."

Laura Hardy gave her husband a hard look and came forward to hug her son. "I'm sorry Mom," Joe repeated miserably.

"You've got _nothing_ to be sorry about," said his mother firmly, holding him at arms length. "We're extremely proud of you and Frank for what you did today." She removed the ice compress and inspected his eye. "The doctor explained everything to us, so I don't want to _ever_ hear you apologising for what happened, okay?" She glared at her husband again.

Joe nodded.

Shamed, Fenton addressed his youngest again. "Sorry Son, I didn't mean to raise my voice, I was just alarmed how you look – nice black eye."

"Injuries in the line of duty," replied Joe.

"Frank is through here Mr and Mrs Hardy," said Doctor Green leading the way, he looked back. "Perhaps Joe would like to go and wait with his friends whilst I explain some things to you regarding Frank's condition?"

"I think that's a good idea," said Fenton firmly as Joe started to protest. He addressed his son. "We'll come and speak to you after the doctor has spoken to us."

Joe entered the waiting room and walked into an amazing site.

Vanessa and Callie were both on the floor playing with a young boy. It was Luke and he was giggling. There was a dark haired lady sitting with them. They looked up upon hearing Joe enter.

"Hi Joe," said Vanessa. "Mrs Cummins, this is Joe Hardy, the boy we were telling you about, Joe, this is Luke's Mom."

Mrs Cummins arose and stepped forward. "I'm very privileged to be able to meet you Joe," she said and took his hand. "I owe you a great debt of gratitude, without your intervention, my son would not be here with me today." She turned to Luke and crouched down to speak to him. "Luke, this is the nice man who helped you today in the park."

Luke lowered his eyes and considered what she'd said to him. Then he looked up at Joe and beckoned to him.

Joe dipped down to Luke's level and Luke cupped his hands to his ear. "Thank you very much, Mr Joe," he whispered. He put his podgy arms around Joe's neck and hugged him tightly. Joe looked embarrassed, but pleased at the same time and turned beet red.

Mrs Cummins looked over Joe's head and winked at Vanessa, and she and Callie grinned at one another.

Luke took the ice bag out of Joe's hand and began to play with it.

"Vanessa and Callie have been telling me that you and your brother are Detectives?" said Mrs Cummins.

"Yes, we've dabbled in a few cases," said Joe modestly.

"Then it's lucky that it was you and your brother who were in the park today."

"Why's that?" asked Joe.

"Because you have the ability to get involved in the investigation and help all those other poor parents whose children have been stolen from them. My child was only gone for five minutes, and I went to hell and back, imagine what those other parents are going through."

"I agree, but I don't know what _I_ can do about it alone. Frank and I work as a team, without him I'm only half a partnership, he's the one with the brain - I'm afraid I'm the brawn".

"I think you're underestimating your own abilities," said Julie. "And I'm sure Frank would not want you to allow these people to walk away Scott-free from this – free to steal another child, or injure or even kill, another innocent person".

Joe could see she was correct and nodded. "You're right Julie, and tomorrow I'll begin to solve this case, with, or without my brother."

"We're all going to help you," said Callie. "You won't be working alone."

With that, Luke tipped the ice all over the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

Joe found sleep did not come easily that night

Joe found sleep did not come easily that night. He lay in his bed, unable to get comfortable due to the unyielding sling and the memories of the day constantly invaded his thoughts. Finally, irritated, he went against doctor's orders and removed the sling from around his neck and settled down to sleep without it.

He awoke early, bleary eyed, and staggered to the bathroom to freshen up. Looking in the mirror he noted with satisfaction that although the bruising around his eye was fully developed, the swelling had started to reduce. He thought back to the night before when he had argued with his mother. He'd wanted to stay with Frank that night but his mother had put her foot down, ordering him home to bed. At the time he disagreed wholeheartedly with her, now he could appreciate her point. He'd got some sleep, but he was still dog-tired.

Joe left the bathroom and headed to his room to dress. As he passed his parents' bedroom, the door opened and his father peered out.

"Hello Joe," Fenton greeted him, tiredly. "I thought I heard you up and about," He rubbed his eyes. "Was your night's sleep as poor as mine?"

"Probably worse. I couldn't get comfortable."

"I'll bet."

"I'm going to give Mom a ring and get an update."

"Okay, let me know what she says."

Joe went to his room and began to slowly dress. After successfully pulling on his pants, he put a t-shirt on and draped a shirt loosely about his shoulders, pulling his uninjured arm through the sleeve, leaving the other dangling free. He then re-applied his sling.

He entered his father's study, picked up the phone and dialled the hospital's number. He was put through to his mother. "Hi Mom, any news?"

_"Hi sweetie, yes, there's been an improvement over night," _he was pleased that his mother sounded so upbeat. _"Frank's been lapsing in and out of consciousness. Don't worry though, the Doctor assures me that's perfectly normal"._

"That's good news Mom, me and Dad will be on our way soon."

_"Alright. How are __you__ feeling Joe? Is your eye still sore?"_

"A little, but not as bad as yesterday, and it's not as swollen."

_"Oh good, I'll see you soon then?"_

"Yes, bye Mom."

_"Bye Joe."_

Fenton Hardy appeared in the doorway, dripping wet from his shower. "What did she say?"

Joe reported back to his father. "I'm going to go to the hospital right now," he announced, grabbing the van's keys.

"Don't be ridiculous, how are you going to drive? First we're going to have a proper breakfast and then we'll go together…oh, and you're going to wear a pair of sunglasses. I'm not going to be seen with you looking like that in public!"

Joe and his father arrived at the hospital less than an hour later. Mrs Hardy was pleased to see them, but it was obvious from her dishevelled appearance that she'd not slept much that night.

"Laura, you look exhausted," observed Fenton. "Joe can sit with Frank for a little while, whilst I take you for a cup of coffee and a bite to eat."

"But, what if he wakes up?" asked Laura.

"Then Joe will come and find us," he insisted.

Joe nodded his head in agreement and urged his mother, feeling it would be nice to have some time alone with his older brother. Finally, she agreed, and they left the room.

Sitting down by the bed Joe had a good look at his brother. Frank certainly had more colour in his cheeks now, and was breathing more steadily. He slept, curled up on his side. Feeling less anxious, Joe moved over to the window and looked out at the moving traffic and pedestrians far below.

"What…?" a voice mumbled.

Joe spun round, and saw that his brother's eyes were open and were looking at back at him, full of confusion.

"Frank, you're awake!" he shouted, moving quickly to his side, delighted. "How are you feeling?"

"Where am I… what am I doing here?"

"Don't you remember?" asked Joe. Frank shook his head. "You're in the hospital, we were on a picnic with Callie and Vanessa. We interrupted an attempted kidnapping, and you got conked on the head."

"Who are Callie and Vanessa?" asked Frank.

Joe stopped short "What did you say?" he asked, assuming he'd misheard such a bizarre question.

"Who are Callie and Vanessa, and who are you?"

Joe's mouth dropped open, the full repercussions of Frank's statement becoming all too clear. Panic gripped his heart; he lunged at the emergency button and pressed it firmly.

"Joe, calm yourself," ordered his father sitting down next to his distressed son and slipping a comforting arm about his shoulders.

"But he doesn't know who I am!" Joe wailed loudly.

"Yes, I know, but getting hysterical is not going to help. Once the doctor has completed his tests, he'll be able to tell us exactly what's going on.

Laura Hardy came back from the drinks machine and handed her son a styrofoam cup filled with hot, steaming liquid. She sat down on the other side of him and rubbed his arm. "Your father's right, sweetie, let's wait for the Doctor before jumping to any unnecessary conclusions."

Half an hour later, Dr Green left Frank's room and ushered the rest of the Hardy household into his office. "Frank is experiencing what is known as short-term retrograde traumatic amnesia," he looked at their bemused faces and explained further. "As you know, following the assault, Frank's brain suffered a small amount of swelling. It is now clear that this has caused considerable bruising to his brain and that seems to be what's causing his confusion and memory loss."

"Doctor," began Mr Hardy. "From what I understand about amnesia, don't the effects vary from patient to patient?"

"That's correct," nodded Dr Green, surprised at Fenton's knowledge. "In Frank's case, he knows his mother, but neither you nor Joe and is incapable at this time of building a, coherent picture of himself," Dr Green continued. "He'll be able to do all the normal things for himself - anything that is instinctive - but other than that, he's an empty vessel where memory of himself is concerned."

There was a pause before Laura said, "Will he regain his memory?".

The Hardys held their breaths in anticipation.

"Oh, yes, once the bruising has eased, I expect Frank to make a speedy and full recovery." Joe closed his eyes in relief. "There is one thing you must bear in mind," warned Dr Green. "You may notice small personality changes, which will not be helped by the frustration of his situation. You must give him all the support you can, the next few days are going to be very difficult for him."

"Of course," agreed Fenton.

"I would like Frank to stay in hospital until tomorrow for observation, and then, barring any complications, I'll release him into your care."

"But, he's still so ill!" exclaimed Joe in shock.

"Actually, other than the memory loss and stitches to the head, he's in better physical shape than you," said the Doctor. "I feel that being surrounded by familiarity may aid his recovery."

"That makes sense," Joe conceded.

Fenton and Joe arrived at Bayport Police Headquarters for Joe to provide his promised statement to Con Riley. Upon entering through the swing doors they stepped up to the front desk and caught Con's eye. Waving them forward, they passed the reception desk and took seats at his desk.

"How are you feeling today Joe?" Con asked.

"Better than yesterday," he replied, removing his sunglasses.

"Wow, nice one Joe!"

"Yeah, it is a bit black isn't it?"

"How's Frank?" Con asked.

Fenton filled Con in on the developments of the day. Con was disturbed to hear about Frank's memory loss. "That's too bad, I hope he recovers quickly and there's no permanent damage." He turned to Joe. "I need to know, in your own words, and as best as you can remember, what happened in the park yesterday. The girls were pretty sketchy in parts, presumably due to the heat of the moment."

"That's a completely understandable reaction," remarked Fenton.

Joe looked down, closed his eyes and got his thoughts in order. Taking a deep breath he recanted all he could remember, from when they entered the park right up until Con Riley and Officer Anderson found him walking back in the road. When he'd finished he opened his eyes and saw that both his father and Con Riley had turned their chairs fully on him to listen. They were staring at him with their mouths open.

"What?" asked Joe frowning, not sure how to judge this unexpected reaction to his statement.

"So, let me get this straight?" said Con, stabbing himself in the forehead with his pen. "You tried to halt their escape by running around the side of the truck and clinging to the door frame as they sped off, and then you punched the window out?"

Joe nodded.

"And that didn't strike you as…well…fool-_Hardy_?" he quipped.

Joe considered the question. "Well, thinking about it, I suppose it _was_ pretty dumb."

Fenton and Riley looked at one another, Fenton lifted an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth turned up. "That's my boy!" he said smugly.

Joe allowed himself a little smile.

"Have you time to stay for a little while—I'd like Joe to go through some mug-shots, if that's okay?"

"We can stay as long as you need him," agreed Fenton. Riley went into the back room, came out with several large volumes and plonked them in front of them. Fenton laid a hand on his son's shoulder and they began to turn the pages inspecting each picture in turn. Riley went back to his paperwork.

They were fully absorbed in their task some time later when Joe had the sudden feeling they were being watched, his eyes moved off the page and he turned his head slowly to look over his shoulder.

"If it isn't my old friends Fenton and Joseph!" boomed a familiar voice in delight.

Fenton jumped and clutched at his chest, "CHIEF! – I nearly had a heart attack," he gasped.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you boys," laughed Chief Colliq, moving around to the front of them. "Wow, nice shiner Joseph".

"Thanks."

"I'm glad I bumped into you Joe, I wanted to have a quick chat."

"Fire away," Joe invited.

"I've been speaking with Julie Cummins – Luke's mother – and she seems under the impression that you might be getting involved in looking into the situation of the missing children?"

Joe could tell from the Chief's expression that he wasn't happy at the thought of him becoming involved in an ongoing police investigation. Keeping his face completely passive, he asked vaguely: "Did she?"

Chief Colliq said sternly "I hope that you're not, my boy, these are dangerous people who are not afraid to use whatever means to achieve their aims - as you and you brother have already found out."

Joe nodded his understanding.

"Good, good, good," said the Police Chief, "Well, I won't keep you from your task any longer. Nice to see you Fenton" he said shaking hands. "And nice to see you in one piece, Joe." Offering his hand to shake, Joe shrugged his shoulder and lifted his sling indicating he couldn't return the gesture, the chief calmly shook Joe's empty sleeve and walked away, chuckling to himself.

They found the hunt through the mug shots frustratingly futile. As they were leaving later, Joe locked eyes with Chief Collig who was standing in his office doorway observing him thoughtfully. He nodded in greeting and Colliq gave him a thumbs-up sign. He entered his office shutting the door on himself and the young female police officer that was seating herself in front of his desk.

On the way home later with Fenton at the wheel, Joe said. "Dad, I can't seem shake the feeling of deja-vu surrounding this whole situation."

"In what way, son?" Fenton asked glancing from the road for a second with a furrowed brow.

"Well, it's only been a few months since I lost _my_ memory!" Joe was referring to an earlier case _'Brother against Brother' _in which his father sent him undercover to warn a federal prisoner he was in danger of being murdered. In the midst of which, Joe had lost _his _memory.

"You're right, I hadn't remembered that. At least Frank will have someone in the house who has been through the same experience".


	5. Chapter 5

Vanessa and Callie pulled up outside the Mortons' farmhouse and sounded the horn

Vanessa and Callie pulled up outside the Mortons' farmhouse and sounded the horn. The front door opened and Chet and Biff appeared to slip into the back seat.

"Hi girls," said Biff. "What does Joe want to see us about?"

"He says he has news of Frank, but he wouldn't go into details. He did tell me that he has regained consciousness though."

"That's great!" Chet said, flashing a big grin at them all.

"Yes, but he sounded strange on the phone - he definitely wasn't telling the whole story," said Vanessa.

It was a short drive to the Hardy house and when they pulled up they could see Joe standing impatiently on the doorstep, looking agitated. He signalled for them to come inside quickly and ushered them into the family room.

"What's the problem Champ?" Chet asked.

Joe outlined the day's events at the hospital. When he'd finished, Callie shook her head and raised her hands to her temples. "So, what you're telling me," she said slowly and deliberately. "Is that Frank has no memory of me what-so-ever?"

"Not at the moment. Not of you, Vanessa, Biff, Chet, me, or even Dad".

"Oh!" Her eyes swam with tears and Vanessa moved to sit next to her, encircling her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Chet folded his arms and Biff whistled through his teeth.

"He's being released from hospital tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Chet said in amazement, leaning forward.

"Yep, Doc thinks it will do him good to be surrounded by familiar things. Apparently, it should help him to recover quicker." He also filled them in on Chief Colliq ordering them off the case.

"That makes things a little awkward," remarked Vanessa.

"Not if we don't tell him. But if we get caught, we could get into serious trouble with our folks," Chet pointed out.

Joe looked around at his friends. "If any of you would like to pull out of the investigation, now is the time – no one will hold anything against you."

"No way man, I'm in till the bitter end!" said Biff.

"You can count on us too," agreed Vanessa, catching Callie's eye.

"And me," said Chet firmly.

"Thanks guys."

"So, what's the next plan of action?" asked Biff.

Joe pulled a notebook and pen from his pocket. "I've written down everything I can remember of the events of yesterday and I think it would be a good idea to compare notes with Vanessa and Callie – we may unearth something we didn't previously consider as important".

Vanessa, Callie and Joe put their heads together and started to read through the notes. Meanwhile, Chet and Biff went into the kitchen to make refreshments. Biff came back with a tray of drinks and started unloading them onto the table. "Any luck?" he asked.

Joe sat back, frustrated. "No, but I've got the strongest feeling we're missing something."

"Keep at it then." Biff took the tray and headed back to the kitchen, he put his hand out to open the door, only to find it being opened quickly from the other side. It collided with Biff, who fell on his rump. "Hey!"

Chet entered the room backwards having used his shoulder to push the door open, his legs became entangled in Biff's and the huge plate of sandwiches he was carrying was in danger of being dumped all over the floor. He hit the ground, managing to hold the plate steady enough not to loose a single one.

Callie started to laugh.

"I'm glad we cheered someone up," grumbled Biff.

Joe shook his head in amazement. "Chet, you're the only person I know who could do that and not lose a single crust of bread!"

"Hey, what can I say? I've been in training for years!" Chet replied.

Vanessa took the plate of sandwiches from Chet in order to allow the boys to disentangle themselves. "Are you okay?" she asked, stifling a giggle.

"Yeah, no thanks to Chunky here," scowled Biff, rubbing his backside.

"Hey, less of the 'Chunky' Lanky Boy!!"

"If you two could just stop squabbling for just a second, and let me get a word in edgeways," began Callie. "Your little escapade has just jogged my memory."

They all turned to her in excitement.

"Fire away," said Chet, grabbing a sandwich from the top of the pile.

"When the truck pulled off with Joe, did you notice that the back doors were still wide open?" Callie asked Vanessa.

"Of course, I'd forgotten that!"

"I also remember that there were a number of items in the back. Is it conceivable that some of the contents may have spilled onto the road?"

"It's certainly a possibility - a very good possibility. The vehicle was certainly swerving all over the place at one point. Well done Callie! You may have just provided us with our first lead!" Joe leaning forward and planted a kiss her on the cheek, she blushed bright red.

"I hate to be a party-pooper, but wasn't it my collision with Biff that actually got us the new lead?" said Chet.

"I'm sorry, would you like a kiss too?" Joe lunged forward at his friend.

"Erm, no, that's okay, thanks for the kind offer though," Chet spluttered, fending him off.

After they'd all calmed down again, Joe said. "Tomorrow we should visit Jefferson Park and examine the site thoroughly."

"Wouldn't the police already have done that?" Vanessa asked.

"Yes, but I doubt they investigated much further than the parking lot, I think we should walk the route the van took _after_ leaving the park. They may have dropped some of their load along the way."

Joe was pushing his meat around the plate with his fork.

"Not eating is not going to help Frank's situation, you know," Fenton said sternly.

Joe looked up at his father like he was mad. "It's not that I'm not hungry, Dad, it's that I can't cut up my dinner."

"Oops, sorry son, give me your plate."

Joe slid his meal across and his father began to cut it up into small, mouth-sized pieces. "I'm going to visit Frank after dinner," Joe announced. "I think I might take some family albums with me. What do you think?"

"Sounds like a good idea," his father replied, handing back the plate.

Joe looked in consternation at the devastation that was once his meal. "For some reason, I've suddenly lost my appetite."

Joe climbed from the cab and paid the driver. Heaving the holdall filled with the photo albums in one arm, he entered through the automatic doors.

What he'd failed to notice was that he'd been followed since leaving the house by a black, non-descript car. The car pulled up silently and a figure alighted, running quickly after him. The person watched as Joe entered the elevator, noted the floor number he asked the lift attendant to press for him, turned to the stairs and began sprinting upwards.

The elevator doors slid open and Joe found his way barred. "Oh, hi Mom."

"Hi Sweetie, what's in the bag?"

"Photo albums."

"Good thinking. Go right-a-long in, I'm going to refill his empty water jug."

"Okay." Joe put in hand on the doorknob, took a breath and then entered the room.

Laura halted in her tracks, turned back, and went to listen at the door.

A figure also stopped in the stairwell waiting for Laura to leave.

Joe entered, feeling awkward and nodded at his brother. Frank peered back, warily. "Hello," Joe said uncomfortably. "I'm your brother, Joe."

"Yeah, I know who you are, Mom's told me all about you and Dad."

"Has she?"

"Yep."

There was a long, embarrassing silence. Suddenly, Frank's face broke into a huge grin. "You don't have to look so worried, I'm not going to eat you—yet!"

"I was starting to wonder!" Joe let the breath out he'd been holding and grinned back.

Still spying at the door, Laura smiled and decided all was going to be fine. She opted to leave them both alone for a while and veered towards the cafeteria. The figure in the stairwell used the opportunity to sneak to the door and also listen.

Joe slightly lifted the holdall. "I've bought some photographs for you to have a look at — if you'd like to?"

"Yeah, cool. I was starting to get bored anyway, let's have a look, bro."

Joe sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled out the first album. They began to flick through the pictures together, with Joe explaining who was who.

"Who's the chunky kid?" asked Frank.

"That's Chet, he's a really good friend of ours, he's been helpful to us in quite a few of our cases."

Frank looked at him, amused, "Cases? You make us sound like Batman and Robin!"

Joe regarded his brother like he was an alien. "Anyway…this is your best friend Biff…"

"BIFF? Where'd he come up with a name like that?" laughed Frank.

"His real name's Allen. He once had a distant relative who was quite a successful boxer and he was called Biff and he kinda inherited the nickname."

"Biff-bash," Frank muttered and turned to the next page. "Now this is more like it, who's the cute chick?"

"I'm glad you think that, because she's your girlfriend, Callie."

"Wow, things are looking up at last, do we get on well?"

"Yeah, you do."

"Cool, when can I meet her?"

"You'll probably meet her tomorrow."

Frank turned the page again. "Man, who's the old-dear? She looks a bit fierce. A look that could melt an ice-berg."

"That's Aunt Gertrude, she lives with us, but is out of state visiting an elderly friend."

"Thank goodness for that, she look's _way _too scary - ice-maiden, brrrrrrrrr."

"I wouldn't let her hear you say that, because she…" Joe suddenly stopped, mid-sentence.

Frank's eyebrows shot up in surprise as his brother put his finger to his lips to indicate for Frank to stay quiet. Getting up from the chair, he crept to the door, reached slowly for the door-handle and yanked it open. Laura almost fell into the room.

Frank roared with laughter. "Playing detective again are we little bro. Careful Mom, he may have you arrested."

"Sorry Joe," Laura said. Joe shrugged his shoulders and glared at his brother.

"Erm, I think it might be time for you to go now Joe," said Laura, sensing her son's impending explosion. "I'll walk you to the elevator." Joe bid a grudging farewell to Frank and they left the room together.

"Mom, why were you listening at the door?" he asked, still feeling annoyed.

"I just wanted to check you were both getting on okay. Frank's not his normal self at the moment, and I know what your temper's like."

"I agree, he's very different. He doesn't seem like our Frank at all."

"I know, but once he's home tomorrow, I'm sure we'll see an improvement."

"I sure hope so. See you tomorrow Mom," he kissed her on the cheek and stepped into the elevator.

As he left the hospital and hailed a cab, the black car pulled away from the curb and prepared to follow Joe once again.


	6. Chapter 6

Joe was collected early next morning by Vanessa

Joe was collected early next morning by Vanessa. He had an appointment at the hospital to have his dressings changed and planned on getting it out of the way early so they would have the rest of the day to progress the case.

Vanessa pulled out of the driveway and turned into the road. "How was Frank yesterday?" she asked.

"A bit weird, actually. I don't think Callie will recognise him when she comes over later, I certainly had trouble." Joe peered in the car's wing mirror.

"In what way 'different'?"

"He…just isn't himself," Joe answered.

"I'm not surprised, it's not every day you wake up not knowing who you are anymore."

"Vanessa, I don't want to panic you, but we seem to have picked up a tail."

"Joe, have you ever known me to panic?" Vanessa demanded. She glanced at the rear view mirror. "Where?"

"About three cars back, the black one. I wasn't sure at first, but it's keeping pace with us, always allowing two or three cars to stay between us. I probably wouldn't have realised we were being followed at all, but for the fact I'm trained in surveillance techniques."

"Hang on Joe, let me try something."

Vanessa headed along the street at an easy pace, keeping to the right hand lane. At the last possible second she twisted the wheel and shot left, slicing across the path of several cars. Joe heard angry horns being blown and looked behind him to see the black car shoot across the intersection, taken completely by surprise. The car stopped and began to reverse in order to continue the pursuit of their car. Vanessa took a quick right into a side street, turned left and left again. She quickly pulled into a vacant space.

"That was an ace piece of driving, Vanessa!"

"Hey, I'm not just a pretty face you know."

Joe opened his door and jumped out. "Wait here," he commanded, taking off his sunglasses.

"No way – we're in this together!" she hurriedly pulled her car keys from the ignition and joined her boyfriend on the corner of the street.

They stood out of view with their backs to the wall listening. Upon hearing the car come screeching around the corner, they calmly stepped out and stood on the sidewalk. The car jolted to a stop and began to back off. Joe bent and looked straight into the face of the driver, but was unable to make out any distinct features – the sun visor was pulled down and the driver wore sunglasses and a baseball cap, successfully obscuring the face. Vanessa took a mental note of the car's number as the vehicle spun away and sped off into the distance.

"Phew, if all your investigations are as exciting as this, I wouldn't mind setting myselfup as a private eye - I got the car's plate number by the way," Vanessa remarked.

"Good, we'll get on the computer later and track the owner," said Joe.

They walked back to the car.

Joe was feeling very happy as he grasped the steering wheel of his van. Following the visit to Bayport General he had been given the all-clear to drive again. It also felt good not to have to wear the sling.

Vanessa squeezed his knee and smiled across at him. "Feeling good?"

"You bet! I felt like I'd had my wings clipped!"

They'd picked up Biff and Chet and were heading for Callie's place when Joe did a double take in the rear view mirror. "You're not going to believe this Vanessa, but our friend is back!"

"Really?" Vanessa looked over her shoulder.

"What friend?" asked Chet.

"We picked up a tail earlier today, but managed to outsmart the guy — even got the car's plate number."

"Which one? The black sedan?" asked Biff, also peering out the back window.

"Yeah."

"Did you trace the registration number?"

"Nope, haven't had the chance yet," Vanessa replied.

"Let's loose this sucker," Joe said determined. "Hang on everyone."

He put his foot to the gas and quickly picked up speed. The streetlights up ahead were on green. As they approached they began to change to red. Picking up even more speed they shot across the lights. Joe satisfactorily noting that the black car was trapped behind the rest of the traffic waiting for the lights to change. By the time the lights had change to 'go', the black car was nothing more than a speck on the horizon.

Callie climbed into the van and sat down. "Joe, you're driving again!"

"Yeah, great isn't it?"

They brought Callie up to date on the day's events. Biff was crouched up against the back window, keeping a sharp eye out for the return of the black car, but was sure that they were not being followed this time.

Ten minutes later they were parking the van at Jefferson Park. They all gathered round looking at the now faded chalk mark that once circled Frank's blood. Joe, with his mouth set in a firm line, turned and stalked towards his van. Sliding the side door open with unnecessary force, he climbed aboard and yanked several boxes forward.

"Okay, listen up guys. I've got two metal detectors and a pair of two-way radios, which are good for over two miles. Everyone take a pair of latex gloves and a handful of plastic bags. These are to be used to bag up any pieces of evidence we find. Whatever you do, don't get your fingerprints on anything you pick up, or unintentionally rub away clues. Wear the latex gloves and handle everything with extreme care."

Joe handed everyone a holdall each and they began stuffing them with resealable bags. Everyone also took a pair of gloves. "Here's the plan: We split into two groups – Biff with Callie, and Chet with me and Vanessa. Biff and Callie will be dropped off up the road aways and they will start walking back towards the park, picking up anything they find along the way. The rest of us will start at this end. We should then meet roughly in the middle. Each team's to keep in touch using these two-way radios," he held the radios aloft and handed one to Biff. They checked they were both tuned to the same frequency. "There is also a metal detector for each team," he handed one to Callie and one to Chet. "Don't leave anything behind, no matter how unimportant it may seem, remember that even the most innocent looking clue can sometimes blow a case wide open." Joe looked around at their expectant faces. "Is everyone ready?" they nodded. "Okay, let's roll."

Chet leaned towards Biff. "I bags being the 'A-Team'."

"Oh brother!" Biff sighed looking heaven-wards.

Joe dropped Callie and Biff approximately two miles away, then drove back to join Chet and Vanessa. "Better check the two-way radios are working," Joe said to Chet.

His friend put the walkie-talkie to his face and pushed the button. "Biff, Callie, it's the 'A-Team', are you receiving…over?"

There was a few seconds of interference and then Callie's voice came through_. "Loud and clear big guy…over and out."_

"All seems to be in order, Captain!" said Chet, handing him the radio.

They walked back onto the main road to begin their systematic search, pacing the route slowly with their heads down, occasionally crouching to inspect something closely. Chet who had control of the metal detector swung it to-and-fro in a smooth sweeping action. Items were occasionally placed carefully into plastic bags. Their long search had begun.

An hour later Biff and Callie decided to take a five minute break. Biff stood up straight casting the metal detector aside, and arched his back. "This is surprisingly tiring work."

"Tell me about it!" Callie agreed blowing her fringe out her eyes and then tucking it behind her ear.

"You've a height advantage over me - at least your not hunched over as far as I am."

"Oh, stop grumbling and eat this," she pushed a chocolate bar into his hand. "Don't say I never buy you anything."

"Hey, my heroine! Don't tell Chet though - jealousy's an ugly thing!" He ripped the paper from the bar and bit enthusiastically.

Callie stretched her arms in the air and wandered back up onto the road. She unhooked the transmitter from her pants and pushed the button. "Callie to the _'A-Team'…_over," she said sarcastically.

_"Hi Callie, find anything interesting…over?"_ it was Joe's voice coming from the radio this time.

"Nope, just a few bits and pieces, nothing to write home about, sorry…over."

Biff was heading up the embankment towards her. He stopped and appeared to be inspecting the horizon, shielding the sun from his eyes.

_"Same here…over."_

"Me and Biff are just going to take a five minute break, why don…"

"Callie, get out of the way!" Biff suddenly yelled.

She spun round and saw a car, being driven at high speed round the bend in the road. The driver had time to see her and react, but the car just kept coming, the noise filling her head. Suddenly, she felt herself tackled around the waist and was sent soaring through the air, out of harm's way. She lost her hold on the two-way radio and it flew from her fingers. Landing heavily on her side, she was winded and lay there gasping for breath. She heard Biff shouting. "Are you guys crazy? You could've killed her!?"

Callie got up onto her knees and saw a stationary car. Four teenagers were climbing out with mean grins on their faces.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that, what did you say?" one of the youths, who was obviously their leader, came forward cupping his hand to his ear.

Biff stepped into the road, "Oh, I think you heard exactly what I said. What's the big idea?"

"It's not my fault your girlfriend's too stupid to get out of the way." His friends laughed hysterically. Biff clenched his fists into balls.

Callie came to Biff's side and grabbed his arm. "Don't bother Biff, they're just a bunch of kids."

"You should tell your girlfriend to watch her mouth, _Biff_"

"Number one: she's not my girlfriend, and number two: I think _you're_ the one who's in need of a lesson in manners."

The youth wasn't laughing any more. He turned to his friends and motioned his head in Biff's direction. They came forward and started to pulling a variety of weaponry from their pockets. Callie tried to pull her friend away, but he was determined to stay. The four youths started to surround Biff who took up a defensive stance. "Stand aside Callie," he said to her.

She ran down the embankment and frantically began searching for the missing two-way radio. She snatched it up preparing to call for help, when there suddenly came the sound of another vehicle approaching. Everyone turned to look as one.

Biff's eyes widened as he recognised the car as the one that had been trailing them earlier.

They watched as it was driven around them and sent on a collision course, straight into the other car's rear fender, taking out a tail light.

"Hey!" shouted the leader of the group enraged. He turned back to Biff. "You've been lucky today punk. But your time will come, and you'll be sorry you messed with me!" he jerked his thumb at the others and they ran towards the black car. He raised his fist and bought a hammer blow down onto the trunk, but the car shot forward out of range and jolted to a stop again. He was made to look foolish as his fist sailed through thin air causing him to stagger clumsily forward. This antagonised him further and he and his companions jumped into their car. The black car roared off, and they took off after it.

"Phew, that was a close call!" said Biff.

With a face like thunder, Callie stormed over and gave him an almighty shove in the chest.

"Hey…" he said staggering backwards a couple of steps.

"You stupid idiot! You could have gotten yourself killed. My boyfriend's already in the hospital, I don't want another one of my friends there as well!"

"Sorry…"

"So you should be. I'm grateful you saved me from being hit by that car, but your macho pride almost put you in the hospital!"

Callie glared into Biff's hurt eyes. Suddenly, she realised how ungrateful she sounded and looked down at her feet, "I'm sorry, I really _am_ glad you were there to save my bacon."

They looked at each other for a couple of seconds and then burst out laughing.

"You're beautiful when your angry," teased Biff. She whacked him on the arm. "Ow…and violent too!"

They heard the sound of running feet. "What's been going on?" Joe demanded out of breath.

Callie explained what had happened and pointed out the glass from the cars broken taillight.

"There's something Callie wouldn't have known," said Biff. "That car that came to our rescue, it was the black sedan that been following you."

"Are you sure?" Vanessa asked.

"As sure as I can be, the driver was wearing a cap and dark glasses."

"It certainly sounds like the guy," remarked Joe thoughtfully. "But that doesn't make sense. Why run into the back of another car like that?"

"To break up the fight?" Callie suggested. "Or to bail Biff and me out of a sticky situation?"

"Well, if that's the case, maybe this person is on our side, and if that's true, I wonder why?"

"We definitely have to put that car's plate number through the computer," said Vanessa.

"Well, we might as well carry on with our search," said Joe. "But I think we should all stick together this time, just in case those punks return for round two."

Biff went and retrieved his metal detector and they continued with the search. Another ten minutes passed and they came to an area where there was a large amount of glass swept into the grass verge.

"This must be where I punched out the window," observed Joe. He walked back on himself keeping his eyes to the left. He saw a flattened area of grass. "And this is where I landed," he called grimly, pointing to the spot.

Chet, who was moving slower than the others, stopped some distance up road of the others and wiped his brow with the back of his arm. Upon stepping forward again his foot landed on a concealed rock and he turned his ankle. "Whoa!" he exclaimed running sideways, pin-wheeling his arms in a vain bid to stay upright, but finally falling over. Biff stood over him with a smirk on his face and offered him a hand up.

"Ouch, what on earth did I land on?" Chet wondered aloud, rubbing his arm. He knelt up and carefully parted the long grass, underneath lay a large wrench.


	7. Chapter 7

"Great going buddy," cried a delighted Joe, clapping Chet enthusiastically on the back

"Great going buddy," cried a delighted Joe, clapping Chet enthusiastically on the back. He reached into his holdall and pulled out a fresh, plastic bag. Opening it wide, he passed it to Chet to hold. Joe placed his thumb and fingertip carefully on the sides of the tool, he gingerly lifted and dropped it into the bag.

"That is definitely the wrench that was used on Frank'," remarked Callie, eyeing it apprehensively. "The sight of that thing's burned into my memory. I've been having nightmares ever since."

Joe held the bag up to the light and inspected the wrench, "It certainly looks like it." He peered at it closely. "Yes, look at this." He pointed to a spot at the top end. "Here's a strand of dark coloured hair, probably Frank's."

Vanessa wrinkled her nose with distaste and took a step backward.

"They must have thrown it from the truck after they dealt with me."

"What are we going to do with it?" asked Callie, "We can't keep it, that would be withholding evidence, we really need to turn it over to the Police."

"I agree," said Biff. "But if we do that, Chief Collig will know we haven't backed off and then he'll _really get _steamed with us - we're certainly stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"Not necessarily, dude" said Joe, "I suggest we take the wrench back to Nessa's place where we can photograph it. At the same time we can use your computer to track our new friend's licence plate number. Then we'll take it over to Police Headquarters and leave it anonymously at the front desk."

Piling out of the van, they walked up the gravel drive to Vanessa's farmhouse and entered through the front door, immediately coming face-to-face with Andrea, Vanessa's Mom. "Hi Kiddo," she said, greeting her daughter. She regarded Joe for a couple of seconds. "Nice black eye."

"Yeah, isn't it…" he sighed, wondering how may others where going to comment on it.

"You all look excited about something, what's up?"

"We've just heard that Frank's definitely coming home," replied Vanessa thinking on her feet.

"That's good news, you must be greatly relieved Joe."

"Yes, thank you Mrs Bender."

"We're going up to my room, Mom, to mess about on the Internet," said Vanessa, mounting the stairs.

"Okay, have fun."

"Thank you," they all chorused, running up behind Vanessa and then filing into her bedroom, which was filled with a whole array of interesting electronic wizardry and gadgets.

"Wow!" exclaimed Chet, impressed. "I've never seen so much computer equipment in one place in my life!"

"Don't be _too_ impressed, this is chicken feed compared to what my Mom's got. This is all hand-me-downs that she passes to me when she's finished with it." Vanessa's mother Andrea was a graphic artist who created animated cartoons for TV and film.

"Where's your digital camera, Vanessa?" asked Joe glancing round.

"I'm not going to use my camera, I'm going to put the wrench straight onto the scanner plate," Vanessa said, busily reorganising her desk and swapping over USB leads. "You see, if it's scanned at a high enough resolution we'll get a much clearer image."

They put a layer of clean plastic onto the tabletop surface and under Joe's direction, Biff held the bag whilst Chet put on latex gloves and carefully lifted the wrench while Vanessa made sure the scanner plate was completely free of dust and grime.

Vanessa stood to one side and watched as Chet gently laid the tool on the glass and then had an idea and scanned the room, her eyes finally settling on what she was seeking. "Oh, Callie, can you pass me that cardboard box lid?" she requested, and pointed.

Cassie fetched it from the corner of the room and handed it across.

Accepting the lid, Vanessa placed to over the wrench. "This will act as the scanner lid without actually touching anything."

Joe nodded his approval.

Vanessa turned on her computer, entered her password and opened the scanner's software programme. Clicking on various instructions, the machine began to whirr and a solid band of white light travelled underneath the cardboard lid. It came to the end of its run and clicked off. An image of the wrench honed into view on the screen.

"Impressive," breathed Callie.

"I haven't finished yet, just a few more touches, and the image will be crystal clear". She clicked with the mouse causing the image to fluctuate. Finally Vanessa sat back in her seat and turned the monitor to face her friends.

"That's amazing," said Biff.

Vanessa smiled, "Easy - when you know how."

"Let's flip it over and do the other side," Joe said.

"This will takes seconds now that the calculations are set," said Vanessa as between them, Chet and Biff lifted the lid and turned the wrench over. She waited until Chet gave her the thumbs up and then pressed a button and the scanner whirred to life again and the final image flashed up. "I'd better save this to the hard-drive and burn a CD copy as a back-up."

"Shouldn't we also dust for fingerprints?" suggested Chet.

"I don't think that's wise. If we dust it, it will be obvious to the cops who found it," said Callie.

"Fingerprints would be useless to us, anyway." Joe added. "Without Frank, we don't have access to the national database to be able to compare any that we did lift. We'll have to satisfy ourselves with the scans. Nessa, can you print a couple of copies onto photographic paper?"

Vanessa leaned across and pushed a couple of sheets of glossy paper into the printer tray. Soon Joe was in possession of the photographs he requested.

"Okay handsome," said Vanessa to her boyfriend, pushing herself back in the chair and standing up. "Your turn to impress everyone and look up that car number."

Everyone looked at Joe expectantly. "Erm…I've got a little confession to make," he said, looking sheepish. "I've never really paid much attention to what Frank does when he accesses the computer for that type of information…"

"Oh, terrific Genius Boy. It may not have occurred to you, but these sites have security access and I don't know the passwords," remarked Vanessa.

"Sorry."

Callie gave a small cough, linked her fingers together and cracked her knuckles noisily.

"Jeez Callie, that's gross!" groaned Chet.

"Step aside, Joseph," she said pushing him gently out of the way and sitting down. "Give the Master room to work!" Everyone stood gaping in amazement as Callie fingers flew. She connected the modem to the telephone line, located the central car database and keyed in a password.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" asked Joe, his eyes all-agog.

"You don't go out with a computer geek as long as I have without picking up a trick or two - what's the reg number?" someone handed her Joe's notebook and she typed in the digits and pressed enter. "Well, here's the answer, but you're not going to like it!" she said, one eyebrow in the air.

"What is it?"

"The number is totally unlisted, so the car must be fitted with bogus plates."

"Oh, great, no wonder he wasn't too bothered about continuing to follow us in the same car, even after being spotted. Can you tell if there's been any cars of the same make, style and colour that have been stolen in the Bayport area in the last week or so?"

"Hang on a sec," her fingers did their work again. "Not for that particular make of car, no."

"Mind you, it could have been stolen anywhere," remarked Biff.

"It could also be a legitimately owned car, with false plates," said Joe. "Let's forget about that for now and concentrate on the wrench." He turned to Biff, "You're probably the least known of us to the Cops…"

"Why, because of your criminal backgrounds?" he smirked.

"Very funny, Laughing Boy! I think we should tag it and _you_ should take it to HQ and leave it at the front desk."

"Oh, terrific! And what do I say to the Desk Sergeant?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Joe replied and winked. He scribbled into his notebook and pushing the photographs between the pages. "Let's go."

Joe parked the van half a block from Bayport Police Headquarters. Biff exited, armed with a plastic carrier bag containing the wrench and a short, unsigned note outlining what was within. Two minutes later he was trotting up the building's concrete steps and pushing through the swing doors. As he approached the front desk, he was relieved to note that other than the Desk Sergeant, the waiting area was completely deserted.

The Officer looked up and glared at him. "Can I help you son?" he asked gruffly.

"I hope so. I've lost my dog and wondered whether anyone had brought him in."

The Sergeant sighed and shoved a piece of paper and a pen at him. "Okay, jot down a description and it's name, and I'll go and have a look in the cages."

Biff invented a description and handed it back. "Thanks," the Sergeant heaved himself out of his chair and sauntered off.

Biff spun around, searching for a suitable place to stash the bag. He wanted to leave it where it would be found by a cop rather than a member of the public. His eyes finally fell upon an umbrella stand just on the other side of the desk, do checking first that no one was taking any notice of him, he hoisted himself up, leaned across the table and dropping the bag into the receptacle. He was back on his feet again looking nonchalant as the Desk Sergeant returned – with a small black dog.

"Here you are kid, here's your dog, Fluffy."

"I…I…" stammered Biff.

The Sergeant opened the hatch and brought the dog round the front. "You have got a dog leash, haven't you, kid?"

"Not exactly," said Biff thinking quickly. "I usually just use my belt."

"Kid, In that case, I'm not surprised you lost your dog. Be sure to keep the animal under proper control in future, then he won't be able to wander off."

"Good advice mister." Biff took his belt off and attached it to the dog's collar. Holding his pants up with one hand and the dog in the other, he walked out onto the street. The desk sergeant shook his head in despair as he watched him go.

"Well…Fluffy…what am I going to do with you?" The dog looked back and slobbered on his hand. "Yuk, thanks dog, I love you too." He walked back to the van ignoring the curious stares and smiles from passer-bys as he tried to keep from loosing his pants. He reached the Hardy's van and kicked the side door. It was slid open and his friends looked at him and then down at the dog. Chet opened his mouth to speak.

"Not one word!" he growled as a warning. "Just drive me and Fluffy to the dog pound."

Joe turned his keys in the front door and entered the house. "Anyone home?" he yelled putting his keys down on the hall table. No response. He looked at the notice board. There was a note pinned to it, which Joe tore off and read:

'_Joe, have gone to pick your mother and Frank up from the hospital. Back soon. Dad.'_

Joe was a little disappointed, as he had wanted to accompany him to pick up his brother. He crumpled the note up into a tight ball and threw it in the direction of the waste bin, watching as it sailed through the air and dropped straight into the receptacle. "It's a touch down!" he shouted, punching the air.

He went through to the kitchen and opened the icebox. Locating a barrel of double choc-chip ice-cream he got a spoon and wandered into the sitting room to turn the TV on.

A little while later he heard his parents entering the house. He turned off the television and arose from the seat expectantly turning around towards the door. His family walked into the room with Frank in tow who was beaming all over his face.

Fenton was looking a little perplexed.

"Hey Joe!" greeted Frank enthusiastically, giving Joe a high-five.

"Sorry I wasn't home in time to meet you with Dad," Joe apologised.

"Don't sweat it little bro," Frank drawled.

Fenton looked at his wife with a 'what's-got-into-him' look but Laura shrugged her shoulders, completely nonplussed. "Would you like a soda, Frank?" she asked taking the ice-cream from Joe.

"Sure, thanks Mom," Frank turned back to his brother, "How's about showing me around this fancy pad?"

"Okay," Joe agreed and accompanied his brother on a complete tour of the Hardy's residence. It felt weird having to show his brother around a house they had both lived in for near enough their whole lives.

"Wow, this is some place, it's absolutely huge! Mom and Dad must be loaded!" said Frank impressed, picking up a desk lamp and inspecting the underside of it, looking for a maker's mark.

Joe ignored the comment and pushed open another door. "This is your room," he announced.

Frank put the lamp down and entered after him, freezing in the doorway in order to scan the room first to see if anything was instantly familiar to him, but nothing struck him as standing out in his mind. Eventually he entered fully and began pacing around. He opened the closet and flicked through the clothes and belongings within and then opened the drawer to his bedside cabinet and mooched through the trinkets. Finally, he turned and gazed at the computer. "Is that mine as well?" he asked putting his hand on the monitor.

"Yeah, it's your pride and joy."

"Hey, I can relate to that. How do you use this thing?"

"I'll turn it on and get you started," Joe sat down and switched on the hard-drive and monitor and the computer whirred into life. He tapped in Frank's password.

"You know what my password is?" Frank asked surprised.

"Erm…yeah, you _always_ tell me your passwords," Joe said, lying through his teeth and keeping his eyes down turned. He hoped that when Frank regained his memory he would forget the conversation ever took place. He stood and indicated for his brother to sit down. "Would you like to look at the Internet?"

"Sure."

Joe leaned over his brother and began giving him instructions. In no time at all, Frank was surfing. "Hey, this technology stuff is great!"

"Yeah, its not bad. Go to the 'Favourites' folder above and scroll down. Click here," Joe instructed, pointing at the screen.

"Is that an internet sight for Dad's company?" asked Frank looking up surprised into Joe's eyes. Joe nodded. "Sweet!" he exclaimed, laughing heartily at the picture of Fenton sitting behind a desk holding a magnifying glass and grinning cheesily from ear-to-ear.

There was a tap on the door and they both turned to see Laura standing there.

"Hi mom, listening at the door again?" asked Frank, winking at Joe.

She ignored the retort. "Frank, there's someone here to see you."

Callie came shyly around the back of Laura, looking very small indeed. She was rubbing her thumb nervously.

Joe felt a jolt of compassion, realising suddenly how difficult this moment must be for her. Frank stood up slowly and they both eyed one another. "So, you're the Callie I've been hearing all about?" he asked.

"I guess so."

"I was just saying to Callie, maybe you would both like to drive into town, have a coffee and catch up on some things?" suggested Laura.

"Good idea Mom," agreed Frank. "Do you drive a car Callie?"

"Yes," she said, and then added obviously. "It's parked outside."

"Okay, lets go." Frank said, slowly grinning. "You'll turn off my computer, won't you, Bro?

"Sure, but if you're going into town, I'd wear one of these," Joe threw one of Frank's baseball caps at him. "You don't want to scare the natives."

Frank glanced into the mirror on the front of his closet door. "Good thinking, Little Bro," he said, carefully slipping it onto his head and concealing his stitches. He then stepped forward and surprised Joe by ruffling his hair into a tangle and then he and Callie left the room.

Joe and his mother looked at one another and listened to Frank and Callie talking as they headed for the stairs: _"We've just got to pop to my place first, I've go to pick up something…"_ they heard Callie saying before they moved out of hearing shot.

"I hope they'll be alright," whispered Laura.


	8. Chapter 8

"Great going buddy," cried a delighted Joe, clapping Chet enthusiastically on the back

Joe was standing with the receiver to his ear, listened to the incessant ringing of Vanessa's phone. He was feeling depressed about his older brother and wanted to talk to her. It became only too clear after the tenth ring that no one was home. Rolling his eyes, he slapped himself in the forehead as it dawned on him that she and Andrea were visiting Vanessa's Grandmother that afternoon. Disappointed, he replaced the receiver, hesitated, picked it up again and punched in Chet's number. It was picked up after two rings.

_"Hello - Morton residence."_

"Hello Mrs Morton, this is Joe, can I speak to Chet please?"

_"Hold on Joe, I'll get him for you – how's Frank doing?"_

"Better, thank you Mrs Morton."

_"Good."_

He heard her put the receiver down onto the counter top and yell for her son and then seconds later listened to his friend's heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs.

_"Hi Champ," s_aid Chet breathlessly.

"How do you fancy doing some legwork around some hardware stores?"

_"Why? To try and track down where the wrench was purchased?"_

"You must be psychic."

_"Okay, sounds good. Pick me up in ten minutes?"_

"Okay, see you then."

Frank and Callie were strolling around the Bayport Mall arm-in-arm. She had shown him all the sights that would normally be familiar and the conversation had now switched to his personality.

Frank was thinking hard. "So, to summarise: I'm and A+ student at Bayport High and get on well with both my classmates and the teachers. My one true love…apart from you, of course…is computers and solving crimes. I have contacts on the Police force and have friends who I've never met before who are computer nerds, or 'Hackers' as you prefer to call them. I don't appear to have any vices - other than pizza and ice-cream, and my best friend's called "Biff"…well, that just about makes me a square!" he sighed, one side of his mouth lifting.

Callie laughed. "I suppose you could call yourself a square. But a loveable and popular square for all that."

They stepped out into the open air finding themselves outside the 'Café Spot' and decided to stop and have a cool drink. The café was filling up pretty quickly, but Frank spotting a couple getting up to leave a window table. Taking Callie's elbow he quickly weaved them through the crowded room. A waitress approached them and began to clear away the used cutlery. Frank picked up a menu and started the look through the available choices. "What do I usually have?" he asked shaking his head in confusion.

Looking over the top of her menu at him, she replied. "Quite often you'll have a grilled cheese sandwich, and if it's a hot day like today, you'll order an orange juice."

"Sounds good to me," he turned to the waitress who had returned, gave his order and looked across at Callie while she gave hers.

Joe and Chet were on the other side of the road from the 'Café Spot' entering 'Harry's Hardware'. This was the third store of that kind they'd tried and each visit so far bearing no fruit. They stepped inside and were immediately hit with a solid wall of heat.

"Whoa! How can they work in this temperature?" asked Chet, beads of sweat immediately forming on his forehead.

"I don't know, but the guy behind the counter doesn't seem to mind. Look at him, he's wearing a sweater!"

They approached the man who was sitting on a high stool, hunched over the Bayport Times. Joe noticed that even though he was wearing the heavy sweatshirt, he wasn't perspiring. _"Amazing,"_ he thought. He cleared his throat noisily to attract his attention.

He looked up, took off his glasses and focused on the boys standing before him. "What can I do for you, lads?" he asked eyeing them up and down. "Looking for a present for your dad?"

"Erm, well, yes actually, we are," he agreed, taking advantage the store keeper's assumption. "Our dad recently had a tool stolen from his truck and we'd like to replace it for him."

"What kind of tool?"

Joe opened the photograph of the wrench and passed it across to him. The storekeeper put his glasses back on and peered at the picture. "You're gonna to be fresh out of luck finding one of these at a household hardware store," he said shaking his head and passing the picture back.

"Why's that?" asked Chet.

"Well, that's not a common-all-garden wrench. That particular tool is only used on particular building sites."

"What type of sites?" asked Joe, attempting to retain his growing excitement.

"Wish I could help you son, but I'm not sure."

"Oh…okay. Well, thanks for your help anyway, Sir."

"No problem, lads – I do have lots of other tools that would make a great present for your dad though," he added quickly, realising that the boys were leaving and he was fast losing a sale.

Chet opened the door and looked back over his shoulder. "That's okay, thanks Mister. We'll have to think of something else."

They stepped gratefully out into the fresh air, Joe fanning his face with the photographs. "So, now we know why it isn't stocked in the hardware stores we've been visiting."

"I don't see how this is going to help us any," thought Chet aloud.

"You'd be surprised," said Joe, mysteriously.

"Hey, don't keep this to yourself Buddy, spill the beans!"

"Tomorrow, I think we should go and visit some of Bayport's building sites and have a look-see, we may strike lucky."

"Yes, and ask the foreman if he recognises any of the guy's descriptions or the wrench," said Chet.

"Exactly - now you're thinking and talking more like a Detective," laughed Joe.

"You're the Holmes to my Sherlock!" Chet replied, nodding his head emphatically.

"More like Road Runner to your Coyote."

"Har, har."

There was a loud roar across the road and a Harley Davison pulled up outside the 'Café Spot'.

"Nice bike!" remarked Joe.

"Yeah, really nice," agreed Chet.

They began to make their way back to the van.

Frank heard the loud rumble of a large motorbike and twisted around in his seat to look out of the window. "That is one seriously cool Hog!" he exclaimed to Callie.

"What? Pig?" she asked scanning the street outside in confusion.

Frank looked at Callie amused. "Hog is another name for a Harley, didn't you know that?"

"Well – funny you should say that – but, no!" Callie looked at the bike. "It's not bad I suppose."

"Not bad? It's roasting!" he jumped up from the table and quickly left the restaurant.

_"Was it something I said?"_ wondered Callie as she watched him leave the coffee shop. Her eyes followed him out the window as he moved towards and confronted the owner who was taking his helmet off. The biker was dressed in well-worn black leather and denim and when he turned, she saw a painting of a large jumping tiger on the back of his jacket. He was long-haired and bearded and Callie didn't like the look of him at all – to her, he looked like a hell's angel. She watched open mouthed as Frank drew him into conversation, gesticulating towards the bike.

More bikes began pulling up, all carrying similar looking biker types, some with heavily made-up girls riding pinion. Everyone was displaying identical emblems on their jackets. They began dismounting and crowding around Frank, who was now openly laughing and jesting with them, a hand still resting on the shoulder of the first man he'd approached.

Callie decided it was time to intervene when she witnessed her boyfriend mounting one of the Harleys. Quickly standing, she opened her purse and threw down sufficient money to cover the bill and exiting the coffee house at speed to catch up with Frank. "It's getting late, we should be heading back," she said taking him by the sleeve and pulling him from the bike.

"Is this your Chick, Frankie Boy?" asked his new friend.

"It sure is, ain't she a babe?" replied Frank.

Callie gaped at him, not quite believing what she'd just heard, he'd never referred to her as a 'babe' before, and she didn't like it.

"Frank, I have to go home now, and I've got to drop you off first," she said sullenly.

"Oh, okay then, Cal. See you later Fly,".

"Yeah, see ya Frankie Boy," they clasped each others' forearms and he and Callie headed for her car.

"What was all that about?" she asked.

"What?"

"All that 'babe' and 'chick' stuff?"

"I don't know what you mean."

Callie decided to let it go, realising that this could be what the doctor meant by 'slight personality changes'. _"Slight changes? That's the understatement of the century!" _she thought.

What Frank and Callie didn't realise was that someone had observed the whole episode – an observer who was sitting at the steering wheel of a non-descript, black sedan car.

That night Frank lay wide-awake in bed, insomnia laden. He sighed in frustration, rolled over onto his belly and closed his eyes again, attempting to relax enough so he could drop off.

Half an hour passed and he rolled frustrated back onto his back and sighed – he was still wide-awake. He looked at the luminous dial on his alarm clock, finding that it read 11.30 p.m. Running his tongue over his teeth thoughtfully, Frank came to an interesting decision.

Getting out of bed, he quickly and quietly dressed himself in blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He grabbed his leather biker jacket from the closet, which he only really owned for undercover work (although he couldn't have known that), pulled on black boots, put his baseball cap on and stuffed some cash into his pocket.

Heading for the window, he opened it wide and leaned out to visually confirm that the ivy on the outside of the house actually reached right up passed his window. It did. "Good," he said to himself and boosted himself up and onto the ledge and then carefully stood upright before swivelling himself around. Dangling a foot out, he carefully felt for a foothold in the ivy with his toe and groped for a handhold and then began to slowly climb down, clinging to the vine tightly. Less than a minute later he was jumping the final few feet to the ground.

The security light suddenly came on, illuminating the garden and momentarily startling him. He jerked his head up as a light went on in one of the upstairs rooms. Not wishing to be seen, he spun around wildly looking for a hiding place. Spotting a well-placed shrub he dived over it, rolled on his shoulder and quickly scrambled behind the plant. Peeping through the foliage he watched as Joe pulled his curtains aside and peered out into the night, nosing out for a full minute before finally closing the drapes and switching the light off again. Frank waited another full minute before making off across the lawn. He stepped into the road and started jogging in the direction of Callie's house.

Twenty minutes later, a breathless Frank stood outside the Shaw residence. He walked around the outside of the building, trying to judge which one was Callie's bedroom and taking the opportunity to catch his breath. Settling upon the room with the pink curtains, he bent, snatched up a handful of gravel and threw it in the direction of the windowpane. Gaining no response, he repeated the exercise, throwing harder this time. At last, the light in the room came on and a silhouette could be seen walking to the window, Frank judged the shape to be Callie's and relaxed his stance. The curtain was pulled back and she opened the window and peered warily out.

"Oh Callie, Callie! Wherefore art thou Callie?" he called.

She was not happy to see him. "Be quiet Frank! What do you think you're doing? You could have broken the window!" she hissed.

"Come down, my love."

"No! Go back home, Frank - your Mom and Dad would flip a lid if they knew what you were doing so soon after being released from hospital."

"Hey, relax babe. I only came over to ask if you wanted to go into town with me. We've been invited to go drinking with the guys," he announced sulkily.

Callie was horrified. "Drinking? Are you crazy? It's illegal for people our age to drink, you'll be arrested!"

"I take it that's a definite no then?"

"Good deduction - go home!" she snapped and slammed the window shut.

Frank shrugged his shoulders, thrust his hands into his pockets and trudged into the road to hail a cab.

Callie sat on the edge of her bed, seething quietly but feeling an equal amount of worry as to her strangely behaving boyfriend. She reached for her phone and punched in the Hardy's number, hoping Joe would answer rather than his parents.

_"Hello," _said a sleepy voice that Callie was relieved to note was Joe.

"Thank heavens it's you."

_"Callie, what's wrong?"_ he asked, suddenly sounding wide-awake.

"You're not going to believe who I've just had a visit from."

_"Who?"_

"Your thick-headed brother, that's who!"

"_What?…Who?…Frank?"_ Joe asked, obviously confused.

"Yes, of course Frank - have you another brother I haven't been introduced too?"

_"Hand on a sec…"_ the receiver was placed down on the table and she listened to the sound of Joe's bare feet padding away from the phone. Ten seconds later and she heard his feet padding back again, only quicker this time. _"You're right Callie, he's gone."_

"Of course he's gone, I didn't dream it! But not just gone, Joe, he's gone drinking '_with the guys'_."

There was a pause as Joe mulled over what Callie had said. _"I think you're worrying over nothing Callie. Biff and Chet aren't going to go drinking with him. They'll bring him home as soon as they realise what he's got in mind,"_ he said confidently.

"Oh, you think so do you?"

_"Well…yeah. Why wouldn't they?"_

"For the simple reason that these are not the _'guys'_ that I'm referring to."

_"Dammit! Of course, I forgot - he doesn't even know where Chet or Biff live does he? What 'Guys' are you talking about then?"_

Callie explained to him about the bikers outside the café, and about how Frank had said to one of them 'see you later'. "I didn't think anything of it at the time, most people nowadays use the term as a phrase."

_"Okay Callie, I'm on to it, don't worry"_

"Joe, I'll tell you this, I will be ecstatic when he gets his memory back."

_"You're not the only one. At least then I'd get a decent nights sleep!"_


	9. Chapter 9

Joe was fully dressed and ready to go in five minutes flat

Joe was fully dressed and ready to go in five minutes flat. He sneaked down the stairs, took his father's car keys from the hook in the hallway and stole out of the house. He'd been sure to turned off the outside security lights before leaving – he didn't want to wake his parents.

Silently opening the car door, he leant in and released the emergency brake. Putting his shoulder to the doorframe, he pushed it down the driveway, steering with one hand. He heaved the vehicle all the way onto the road before jumping in and starting the engine. He drove into town and began coasting up and down, keeping an eye out for his wayward brother. Because he was so obviously underage, the bars he approached refused him entry but were happy to confirm that Frank was not in the bar after he showed them a photograph of him.

He could put it off no longer and progressed his search to the rougher side of town. Cruising past the Sledgehammer Bar which was, as usual, playing loud, heavy rock music, he saw a number of Harley's parked up outside. Pulling over, he was just in time to watch another bike arriving, the driver wearing a jacket which showed a picture of a jumping tiger, just as Callie had described. _"Well, this looks like the most likely place," _hedecided.

He parked the car and walked up to the bar's entrance, fully expecting to be turned away at the door as before. This time, however, no one paid any attention as he entered.

Wrinkling his nose, he found that the inside of the bar was thick with cigarette smoke, and the rock music was almost deafening. He pushed his way through the crowd, keeping his eyes open for his brother, but then suddenly felt someone grab him roughly by the shoulder and yank him into the bar. He tensed, ready to put up a fight and spun to look into Frank's grinning face.

"Joey! – HEY EVERYONE, IT'S MY LITTLE BRO!"

"YO, JOEY!" chorused a number of voices. Joe was speechless.

"Glad you could make it Joseph, have a little drinkie," Frank shouted, pushing a can into his hand.

"No thanks, I've only come to take you home," he said discarding the drink on the counter.

"Oh, come on Joe, the night is young…we're young…and this place is rockin'!" Frank leaned closer in towards Joe's ear. "And there are some really hot chicks, bro!" He lowered his voice in a conspiratorial fashion. "Play your cards right and I'll fix you up…"

Joe was mortified. Sensing another pair of eyes looking him over, he looked towards his brother's shoulder at a girl who stood around 5'3, with collar length auburn hair and green eyes. She moved close to Frank's ear and whispered. Frank laughed.

"Joe, meet Gillian, she's been looking after me tonight, and I must say, she's been the perfect hostess - the hostess with the mostess!" he draped an arm about her shoulder and nuzzled her neck.

Joe's mouth dropped open. "Come on Frank, we're leaving…right now. Or I'll have to call dad to pick us up."

Gillian pouted disappointedly at Frank and he looked sorrowfully back at her. Leaning into him, Frank dropped his head and she whispered in his ear again. He nodded and she slipped from under his arm and was gone. "Okay little bro, you win, take me to your leader!" he gave a mock salute, and in the process elbowed a drink behind him, sending it careening off the bar. "Oops!"

Turning to inspect the damage he'd done, Frank found himself came face-to-face with a very large chest. His eyes roamed up to the face of a very huge, very scary and very angry looking biker. Frank pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and attempted to clumsily wipe the beer from the front of the biker's t-shirt. The man growled and grabbed Frank by the scruff of the neck, lifting him up onto his toes.

"My name's Bull, and that was my drink you just wasted kid, and now I'm gonna waste you!"

"Can't we talk about this?" asked Frank, grinning sheepishly.

"We've done all the talking were gonna do!"

_"Can this night get any worse?"_ thought Joe in consternation and stepped forward to intercede. "Let him down," he shouted, but received little response, other than half a grin. He tried to pull Bull's arm down, but his arm was like iron. He threw a punch at the guy's stomach, but this failed to make him even flinch. The effect it did have, however, was for him to let Frank down and turn his attention to Joe instead.

Joe put his hands out defensively, knowing he was in real trouble, and began backing-off with Bull advancing on him. He carried on retreating until he was halted by the back of his legs connecting with a table, allowing the hell's angel the opportunity to reach out for him. Joe was tensing, ready for action when saw a movement behind Bull and watched, fascinated, as a stool arced through the air – launched from the end of Frank's hands. Joe dropped out of range, ducked and covered as the stool hit Bull squarely across the shoulders, the impact shattering it and sending shards of wood flying in all directions. Bull bellowed in frustration and landed on the table collapsing it and knocking drinks everywhere.

One of the guy's who'd been sitting at the stricken table leaped up and threw a punch in Frank's direction. Ducking to avoid connection, the punch landed on another innocent bystander effectively dragging him into the scrap as well. Frank shuffled forward until he was crouched down next to Joe and then pushed him under one of the other tables where they stayed watching as the fight escalated. "Well, I think you've caused enough trouble for one night, Joe…can't take you anywhere can I?" Frank muttered, laughing.

Joe firmly gripped Frank's sleeve and they began to make their way towards the exit, not daring to stand up as glasses and furniture were flying in all directions. A six-pack of beer was slung from somewhere and landed in front of Frank. "RESULT!" he bellowed grabbing them as he crawled passed.

Finding themselves finally at the entrance, they were forced to edge their way around a mound of fighting bodies, which were rolling out into the street, the human ball a confusion of arms and legs.

Hearing squad cars approaching, Joe and Frank looked at each other in horror and they sprinted. Frank running in the opposite direction to his brother, forcing Joe to turn on his heel in order to catch up with him and pull him in the direction of their father's car.

"Hey, Frankie-boy," shouted a voice. Frank skidded to a halt and turned to see Fly standing in the doorway. "See ya Frankie-Boy, great night by the way!"

"Yeah, the best, see ya round Fly," Frank threw him a can and staggered after his brother towards the car.

Joe put his foot to the metal, just as the cops arrived to break up the fight. "I don't believe you, Frank! Don't you realise how close you came to getting us arrested for underage drinking?"

"But we didn't get rumbled, _and_ I came away with a six…well five-pack," he held a can out of the car window and popped the ring pull, allowing the froth to spill into the road. He held the can up to Joe and took a large swig. "Want one?" he asked.

"I don't think so, dude..."

"Suit yourself, more for me – hey, what does this do?" Frank pushed a button in the dashboard and the automatic sunroof slid open. "Well, would you look at that, bro!" he remarked, unbuckling his seat belt.

"What are you doing?" asked Joe, watching as his brother hauled himself up through the opening.

Frank stood on his seat, drinking, whooping and waving at any girls that happened to be walking by, many of them returning the gesture. "Joe, this is great, we sure do have an affect on the ladies, must be the black eyes!"

Joe tried to dip further into the seat to hide his shame and lamely attempted to encourage Frank down by tugging on his jeans. "Oh, boy," he muttered.

By the time they'd hit the other side of town, Joe had finally managed to persuade his now extremely intoxicated brother to sit down. "I want you to promise me something." Joe asked.

"What's that Joey?"

"Don't ever mention what happened tonight to Callie – especially the Gillian thing! And when we arrive back home, I want you to be as quiet as death. OKAY?"

"Okay, jeez, calm down!"

"Don't tell me to calm down, you've put me in a really difficult situation here, dude!"

They reached the house and Joe halted the car at the foot of the driveway.

"We're not walking to the house are we? Because, I can't feel my feet!" said Frank. "Oops, and there go my knees too," he knocked them with his knuckles. "Hello…hello…anyone home?" he called.

"Get out of the car Frank, I'm going to have to push the car up the driveway so we don't wake Mom and Dad. If they find you in this state we're going to be in BIG trouble, and I mean trouble with a capital 'T'!"

"Or big, with a capital 'B'," pointed out his brother. Frank turned to his car door and fumbled around for a few seconds. "Someone stole the door handle, was it you?"

Joe rolled his eyes, sighed and leant across Frank to unlatched the door. "Whoa - over I go," said Frank as he rolled gracefully out of the car and onto the sidewalk. "Wow," he called. "Come and look at this quick, the sky's turning."

"Okay Frank, I'll be there in a moment, you just lie there and take in the view."

"Thanks Joey, I'll do that. Don't be too long though, or you'll miss the show."

Joe pushed the car back up to the house and parked it. He took the empty cans and hid them inside the van and then headed back to his brother who was still lying in the road, grinning up at the sky. "Up you come, Frank," he said pulling him to his feet. Putting his brother's arm about his shoulders, they made their way back to the house where Joe dropped Frank next to the front door and opened the door wide.

Joe then dipped down next to his brother and leaned into his face. "Now Frank, listen to me very carefully - we're going to have go through the house as quietly as possible, can you do that for me, old buddy?"

"Yes indeedy - you just lead the way!"

"Good, let's go." Joe pulled his brother to his feet again and, while supporting him, began silently making his was through the house and up the stairs. Joe was beginning to relax, thinking they were going to actually get away with it, but unfortunately, fate had other ideas!

Just as they reached Joe's bedroom they trod on a loose floorboard and it gave off a loud squeak. Frank commenced to put his finger to his lips and give a loud. 'Shushhhhhhh'. Seeing a light come on in Mr and Mrs Hardy's room, Joe opened his bedroom door and shoved Frank through, listening as his parent's bedroom door began to open. They both hit the ground with a loud thud, Joe's door luckily clicking automatically shut. Joe immediately clamped his hand down firmly over his brother's mouth, gagging him.

There came a tap on the door. _"Joe, are you all right, sweetie?" _asked his mother, concerned.

"Yes, thanks mom, I couldn't sleep and tripped over something stupid in the dark."

Frank giggled through his fingers and Joe pressed down even harder, barely suppressing the urge to hold his brother's nose as well.

_"Did you hurt yourself?"_

"No, only my pride!"

His mother sounded amused. _"Would you like me to warm some milk?"_

"No, it's fine, don't worry, go back to bed."

_"Well, if you sure…"_

"Yeah mom, I'm sure."

_"Okay then, night Joe."_

"Night mom," he waited until he heard his mother enter the room and close the door before letting go of Frank.

Joe lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling, the smell of Frank's alcohol reeking breath pervading the air. Just to make matters worse, his brother began to snore loudly.

_"My night is complete!"_ Joe thought, pressing the pillow over his head.


	10. Chapter 10

Joe was fully dressed and ready to go in five minutes flat

Joe awoke the next morning feeling miserably tired, rolled over and looked at the clock - it read 9.30 a.m. He groaned and stretched, touching something leathery. "Yuk!" he shouted, shocked out of his stupor. Sitting up, he looked to see exactly what the horrible thing was and discovered Frank's jacket, still laid across the bed from the night before.

His older brother rolled over bleary eyed and whispered, "Please don't make any noise or sudden movements, Bro, my head feels like someone is playing the bongos on it."

Joe leaned forward, right over his ear. "Serves you right," he said loudly. This caused Frank a not inconsiderable amount of discomfort and Joe grinned cruelly. "Come on Frank, you've got to get back to your own room, or Mom and Dad will realise something's up."

Joe entered the kitchen, went to the medicine cabinet and took out the bottle of aspirin.

"You got a headache?" asked Fenton.

"No, not me. Frank's woken up with a migraine - understandable considering the last few days," he looked at his parents, mentally willing them not to ask questions.

"I'll take them to him," decided Laura, rising to her feet.

"No…no it's okay mom, I've got it covered. You stay and eat your breakfast," he quickly backed out of the room before his mother could argue, but returned within minutes and sat down with his parents.

"Isn't Frank coming down for breakfast?" asked Laura.

"No. He said he's feeling a little nauseous so isn't hungry - best to leave him alone to sleep." He took a piece of toast, only too aware that his father was regarding him strangely, so he kept his head down while he ate.

"We had a visitor yesterday whilst you were out," said his father.

"Oh?" asked Joe, relieved at this change in conversational subject.

"Yes, Con Riley dropped by. Apparently, someone entered headquarters yesterday and left a wrench at reception, propped up in an umbrella stand."

Joe looked at his father with what he hoped was a look of bemusement. "Bizarre!"

"They analysed it, and it had traces of blood and hair – Frank's blood and hair."

Joe's altered his expression to one of dumb astonishment. "That wrench? I wonder who found it, and then dropped it at the desk." he said, stalling.

"Riley wanted to know the answer to that too. What is most Interesting is that it had been carefully wrapped in plastic to preserve any evidence."

"Wow. That was very astute of whomever found it," Joe replied swallowing hard.

"Wasn't it?" Fenton looked his son in the eye for a few, long seconds. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you Joe?"

"Me? No dad," he said taking the opportunity to look away. He continued to chew for a couple of minutes. "Dad?"

"Yes, son?"

"Did they find any fingerprints on it?"

"No, all fingerprints had been wiped before it was disposal of."

"That's a shame."

Joe contacted his friends and asked them to meet him at Vanessa's house. He headed off early in order to arrive before everyone else so he could speak to her alone.

Vanessa opened the door. "Hi Joe, you're early" she said, giving him a kiss.

"Can I talk to you in private?"

"Sure, let's go up to my room," they climbed the stairs together. "What is it?" asked Vanessa closing the door and sitting on the edge of her bed.

Joe recanted all that had happened the previous night, becoming more and more annoyed with his girlfriend when she kept laughing. "Nessa! It's not funny!"

"Yes it is!" she looked at her boyfriend and saw that he didn't find it the least bit amusing. "Hey, lighten up _'Joey'_…okay, sorry Joe, I won't laugh any more. So, tell me, who's this Gillian then, another Biker?"

"Yes, but I don't think it was anything serious, just a bit of fun. Frank would be appalled if he was in his right mind," he furrowed his brow. "Gillian's face was familiar to me, but I can't seem place where it is I've seen her before. Probably just around town if she's local," he decided, dismissively.

"What are you going to tell Callie?"

"Tell Callie?" he repeated amazed. "I'm not going to tell Callie anything. Frank will probably get his memory back soon and loose interest in anything 'Bikey', so why upset her for nothing?"

"True," said Vanessa tapping her lip. "I think we should keep our eye on things though, just in case."

"That's what I was hoping you'd say.

They heard the sound of the doorbell and traipsed back down the stairs.

They all sat in the back of the van.

"What happened last night? Did you manage to halt Frank's little escapade?" asked Callie.

"Yep. He didn't get very far."

"That's a relief."

Joe gave Vanessa a sly winked and turned back to the others to bring them up-to-date regarding the report from Con Riley.

"So, their lab results failed to uncover any new evidence?" said Biff.

"That's right, but we now know that this particular type of wrench is used only on building sites, so that's where we should start aiming our investigation," said Joe.

Chet suggested visiting the highway development down town and they headed off. Upon arrival, Biff and Joe approached a labourer, who pointed out the foreman. He looked at the wrench and shook his head. He also failed to recognise the description of either of the men they were looking for.

They next drove to a commercial office construction site and approached a tall man, who was dressed in blue overalls. He wore a badge that identified him as the head honcho. "Sorry lads," he said raising his palms, pre-empting their approach. "I'm not hiring anyone at the moment."

"That's not why we're here, sir" said Joe. "My name's Joe Hardy and this is my friend Allen Hooper, we we're wondering whether you would be prepared to answer a couple of questions?"

The foreman, shook Joe's offered hand firmly. "Joe Hardy you say? Your name sounds familiar to me, have we met before?"

"No, but you may have heard of me and my brother Frank, we're private detectives in our spare time."

"Oh, that's right, I knew I recognised the name. Your father's Fenton Hardy, right?"

"That's right."

"He helped my partner out on a fraud case. A good man, your dad." Joe's chest swelled with pride. "Am I under suspicion?" asked the foreman grinning.

"Why? Got a guilty conscience, or a skeleton in the cupboard you don't want anyone finding out about?" Joe joked back.

"I hope not! Ask away, and call me Bill."

"Thanks, Bill. We were wondering whether your site ever uses a tool like this?" He unfurling the well-thumbed photograph and handing it over.

Bill studied the picture. "No, we don't use one of these here, but I know where this type of wrench is used."

"Where?" asked Biff excitedly.

"Usually on bridges. There's a particular bolt they use, and this wrench is used in conjunction."

"Would they be using one on the new Bayport bridge?" asked Joe.

"Undoubtedly," he agreed, nodding. "Why do you want to know?"

Deciding to take Bill into his confidence, he explained that they were investigating the situation surrounding the disappearance of the children and gave descriptions of the two men they were looking for. Unfortunately, Bill didn't recognise either of the suspects.

"Tell you what," began Bill scratching his head. "The foreman at the bridge site is a friend of mine, let me give him a ring and ask him a couple of questions."

"That would be terrific." Joe and Biff watched as Bill strode purposefully away. The van door slid open and they were joined by the rest of their friends.

"What's happening?" asked Chet.

"He has a friend who's working at the new bridge construction site and he's gone to ring him for us," replied Joe. He looked over and saw Bill walking back towards them, clutching a piece of paper in his hand. "Any luck?" asked Joe.

"Maybe, he confirmed that they do use the tool and he also told me he was forced to sack a guy six months ago who matched the description of one of your suspects - the tall one with the shaved head and the scar on his cheek."

"Why was he fired?"

"He was caught stealing gear from the site and attacked a fellow worker in the process."

"Did you find out anything else?" asked Joe, keenly.

"Yep, the guy's name's Wayne Powers and this is his address," he handed Joe the slip of note paper which containing the address.

"Wow, thanks Bill, you've been a real help," said Joe beaming all over his face and pushing the new piece of evidence into his notebook. "If there's anything we can do for you…"

"Don't mention it. It was a pleasure helping one of Fenton Hardy's sons, he did my partner a great service. Let's just call it pay-back for a job well done!"

Frank awoke at around 11.00 a.m. feeling almost human again. After freshening up, he wandered downstairs into the kitchen and started raiding the refrigerator. He was so engrossed in his search that he didn't hear his mother walking up behind him.

"Headache gone?" she asked.

Frank jerked up and bashed his head on the top of the door opening. "Ouch! It had until you just crept up on me, jeeze Mom!" He clutched his head in his hands.

"Sorry Sweetie, didn't mean to startle you," she came forward and inspected Frank's stitches. "Still intact."

"Mom?" began Frank, still rubbing his head gingerly. "I was wondering if you could drop me at the Bayport Mall, there's one or two things I need to pick up."

"What are you up to?" asked Laura suspiciously.

"Up to? What could I possibly be up to?"

"I don't know, but you and Joe are always getting into pickles."

"Are we? Not today, I told you, I've got to pick up one or two things, and I won't even be with Joe."

"Well…okay then."

"Thanks, Mom," he said, turning back and returned his head to the icebox again.

The gang were all back in Vanessa's room with Callie sitting at the computer. She pressed a button and the printer began to whirr loudly and spit out several sheets of printed-paper. "That's Wayne Power's full rap sheet," she said. "It makes for interesting reading."

Joe picked the sheets out of the collection tray. "Mr Powers has been a busy boy," he agreed. "Numerous convictions for assault, burglary, blackmail and even a short prison term for attempted murder."

"He sounds dangerous," shuddered Vanessa.

"He is dangerous," confirmed Chet reading over his friend's shoulder. "Remember what he did to Frank? I think it's time we passed this information to the police and leave them to deal with it - before we get in over our heads."

"We can't go to the cops. All we have is circumstantial evidence, none of which we can make stick," replied Joe. "What I suggest is that we give Mr Power's a visit at home and Cal, Nessa and me can see what he looks like - we can at least I.D. the guy before going to the police."

They sat in the van looking out of the window at the tenement building across the street. "Well, that's his place," said Joe. "The ground floor apartment. Now all we have to do is get him to come to the door so that we can have a good look at him. Anyone got any bright ideas?"

"I have," said Biff. "But I don't relish the thought, and Chet will hate it."

"Better and better," quipped Vanessa.

Biff continued. "We'll knock on his door and then apologise and tell him we made a mistake."

"In your dreams," scoffed Chet. "Didn't you read the guy's rap sheet? He'd probably kill us for breathing the same air as him!"

"Well, we're not getting anywhere sitting here," said Biff, opening the side door. "Wish me luck guys!"

"Okay, okay - wait up Lanky Boy, you win!" Chet stepped out to join him. Both crossed the street and walked up to the door.

Joe, Vanessa and Callie watched as they seemed to be arguing over who should knock. Eventually Chet rapped his knuckles loudly on the door and they both retreated well back. After about 30 seconds of waiting they knocked again.

Suddenly Biff turned and looked to his right. A tiny, hunched-up old man was shuffling towards them, brandishing a walking stick menacingly. "What do you want?" he asked in a shrill voice.

"Hey, take it easy, we only wanted to speak to Wayne," said Biff.

"Well, there ain't no one living in this apartment no more. Wayne shot through about three days ago without paying his rent. If you see him, tell him from me that he don't get his stuff back till I get my money!" With that, he slowly turned and hobbled away.

"Nice, friendly, old-timer," murmured Chet under his breath. They crossed the street and walked up the van's window.

"He's not there, apparently he disappeared at about the same time you guys had the run in at the park."

"That's quite a coincidence," said Joe thoughtfully. "And you know I don't believe in tidy coincidences."

"Neither do I in this case," commented Biff. He narrowed his eyes at Joe. "The one piece of good news is that apparently he lit out without stopping to collect any belongings."

A smile danced slowly across Joe's lips. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If you're thinking that we should drop by for another visit later and search the place, then yeah!"

"You're both mad - listen to yourselves!" said Vanessa. "We can't just go barrelling into someone's apartment uninvited, we'll be arrested."

"Only if we get caught, which not something I'd be planning to do," Joe countered.

"Well, you can count me and Callie out, we've a previous engagement, which I think in the circumstances is a stroke of genius."

Joe returned to the house to have dinner and ready himself for his evening rendezvous. He headed upstairs and looked into Frank's room, half expecting him to still be recovering. Seeing the room was empty he sighed and entered his own room to change into dark coloured clothes. He heard his father moving about his study and went and knocked on the door.

"Hello?" Joe opened the door and poked his head in, smiling at his father. "Hi Joseph, come on in."

"Have you seen Frank?" asked Joe.

"Your Mother dropped him into town to run a few errands," said Fenton, he paused and consulted his watch frowning. "Actually, that was quite a few hours ago."

"No one could accuse the doctor of exaggerating when he warned us we might notice changes in Frank," said Joe.

"No, you're right, he'd would never have disappeared for hours at a time like this before the amnesia."

"It's like living with a stranger," commented his son, dejectedly.

"You have to remember that you've both been spent the last 17 years living in and out of each others' pockets," observed his father "So you're bound to find it strange. All we can do is play a waiting game."

"Yeah, I know," Joe responded, his voice breaking and sounding choked.

Fenton studied his son; suddenly realising just how difficult Joe was finding things. He put his arm around him and opened the door. "Come on, dinner will be on the table in a minute, let's have a quiet family meal and try and knock some sense into the lad!"

"Bad choice of words Dad."

"Well, am not waiting any longer," snapped Laura. "The dinner will be charcoaled if it's not served up now. Frank…" her speech silenced by a sharp rap on the door. "At last!" she cried.

Joe slid out from the table and went to answer it. He came back a moment later with a look of consternation on his face. Frank followed and stood framed in the doorway. "Hi everyone," he called cheerfully, this is Gillian!"


	11. Chapter 11

The dinner table was silent, except for the sound of clinking cutlery

The dinner table was silent, except for the sound of clinking cutlery. Laura had managed to evict Gillian from the house with the excuse that their dinner was ready. No one was looking at anyone else, except Frank who was gazing from face to face, totally confused.

"What's got into everyone?" he asked. "Did someone die?"

"Only your feelings for Callie!" Joe snapped.

"Joe, shut up!" hissed his mother. Joe opened his mouth, but the look on his mother's face silenced him dead.

Frank pushed his plate away, having suddenly lost his appetite. "I don't understand why you're so pissed with me Joe, Gillian's just a friend. From what I can gather from Callie's demeanour, there doesn't seem to be anything serious between us."

Fenton shifted uncomfortably on his chair.

Joe made a humphing noise.

They all jumped as Frank hands came crashing down upon the tabletop. Rising suddenly, his chair to tipped to the floor with a thump. He picked it up, slammed it back under the counter and stalked off up the stairs. They flinched at the sound of his bedroom door slamming.

"Well done Joe, you handled that well," said his mother sarcastically. She left the table and climbed the stairs after her son.

"It's just…" began Joe.

"It's not JUST anything!" barked his father. "Now I'm aware you're trying to protect Callie, but please put yourself in Frank's shoes. Remember how confusing it was when you were in his situation? The last thing he needed was you coming down on him for something he's not in control of – how is Frank supposed to know how he should be behaving?"

Joe felt ashamed. "Sorry Dad."

"I don't think its me you should be apologising to!"

Joe began to rise from the table but his father placed a restraining hand on his arm. "Not a good time, give him a chance to calm down."

It was dark outside when Joe miserably left the house to meet his friends. Opening the van, he leaned inside to push some equipment into the glove box and glanced inadvertently into the rear view mirror to see the now familiar black sedan car parked across the street from their driveway. Acting nonchalantly, so as not to alert the driver, he withdrew, locked the van and returned to the house.

Scooted quickly through the building and out the back door, Joe crept around the side of the house. Checking that the car was still parked in the same place, and using garden features for cover, he was able to get within just a few feet of the back of the vehicle. He tensed and sprang forward to surprise the driver, unfortunately, he didn't count on the tree root that was lurking under his foot and he tripped and went down. The car immediately shot off leaving Joe punching the lawn in frustration.

The van pulled into Biff's driveway and Joe gave the horn a short blast. Biff and Chet eventually exited the house and climbed into the front seat next to him. They were similarly dressed in dark colours.

Chet studied Joe's face. "Okay Champ, what's the problem?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Joe, I've known you long enough to know when something's up, what's happened?"

"I had a little run in with Frank, that's all."

"A 'little run in'?" Biff repeated, amazed. "You two never have little run ins!"

"Well, we did tonight," said Joe quietly, putting the van into gear. "Look guys, I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

"Okay," agreed Chet after a pause. "Let's get this show on the road." He and Biff looked at each other concerned, they didn't like seeing their friend troubled.

"I almost caught our mystery car-following friend again earlier, but he saw me and drove off. He was parked right outside the house, watching."

"That guy's got a nerve!" breathed Biff.

"Yeah, he's certainly persistent."

Twenty minutes of silent driving later they were once more sitting across the road from the Wayne Power's apartment.

"How are we going to get in?" asked Biff.

"Through the front door," said Joe opening the glove box and pulling out a small bag. He handed a torch to each of his chums.

"Eh?" asked Chet. "Rewind a little, and run that one by me again."

"Through the front door," repeated Joe. He balanced the torch between his knees and opened the pouch to demonstrate to his friends that it held Frank's lock-picking equipment.

"Vanessa was right, we are going to get ourselves arrested," said Chet.

Joe turned to him. "We won't get caught if you and Biff keep a look out whilst I pick the lock. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, it doesn't look particularly sophisticated."

They climbed out of the van and Joe walked up to the front door. Biff and Chet took their positions, looking in different directions. Joe rapped on the door loudly.

"What are you doing?" hissed Biff, over his shoulder.

"Thought I'd better check that no one was home first, we'd look pretty stupid if we entered the apartment, only to come face-to-face with Mr Powers, or a new tenant."

No one came to the door, so Joe inserted two thin rods into the keyhole – one slightly hooked at the end. Instinctively feeling his way, he raised and held all the cogs with the bent rod, and then once they were all held in place, quickly twisted the straight one and gave a quick jerk. There was a clicking noise and the door swung open with a creak. He beckoned to his friends and they all quickly entered the building, shutting the door quietly behind them – an unpleasant stench immediately assaulting their senses.

"Man-alive! What's that smell?" asked Chet holding his nose, feeling momentarily sick.

They turned on their flashlights and shone them about. The sight that met them was an apartment that obviously hadn't felt a wipe of detergent in quite a few weeks. They went from room to room, finding each as bad as the last. The kitchen was by far the worse with unwashed cutlery stacked in the sink. As Biff approached, he could see fungi growing on one of the plates.

"This place is disgusting!" Biff grimaced. "How can anyone live like this – the guy's a slob?!"

"Yeah, this would put even me off eating!" joked Chet.

"It's not that bad!" commented Joe rummaging through the items on the kitchen table. Something large and furry abruptly scuttled over his hand causing him to shout out and jump back. He ran straight into Chet who caught him just before he fell.

"Rats!" said Joe, gritting his teeth, hopping about and shaking his hand loosely at the wrist vigorously. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's RATS!"

"I've been looking to lease an apartment," said Biff, humourlessly. "And I find I'm strangely drawn to this place, I wonder if the rent's reasonable."

"They'd have to pay me to live here," remarked Chet.

"Let's take a look around and see what we can find," said Joe. They separated and began to rifling through drawers etc.

"This is weird, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of anything - most of the drawers are as good as empty," observed Chet.

"I agree. I think Mr Powers may have been using the apartment as a stopgap, so it's not wonder he's not bothered to return. But there has to be something of use here," said Joe. "We can't come this far just fall at the hurdle!"

"There's not even any personally possessions, just a few items of clothing, and most of those are in the wash bin," said Biff.

"Well, seems you're so interested, I think you should empty it out and have a good rummage," suggested Joe.

"If you think I'm going to…" Biff stopped mid-sentence and froze. They heard the creaking of the front door and the voice of the old man trying to talk an unsuspecting, possibly future tenant into leasing the apartment. They looked at each other aghast. Joe put his fingers to his lips and pointed towards the bathroom. Moving quietly the three quickly moved to the room and shut the door silently behind them.

"Quickly, out the window," whispered Joe, leaning his full weight against the door so as to stop anyone from entering. "Be as quiet as you can," he implored and watched as Chet reached up, unlatched the window and raised it. Luckily the window was well oiled and opened silently. Chet mounted the side of the bath, cocked his leg over and dropped out of site - quickly followed by Biff.

Joe released the door to follow his friends, however, he was halted mid-stride by something in the waste basket that caught his eye. He stopped and stuffed it into his pocket before climbing through the window and dropping to the ground.

"That was far too close for comfort," said Chet. "I think you've lost the apartment, Biff. The guy who Old Man Hubbard was showing around sounded real enthusiastic!"

"Oh, shoot…" laughed Biff, clicking his fingers.

Safely back at Biff's place, Joe emptied his pocket. "Look what I found guys," he said holding up the small notebook.

"Did you get that from the apartment?" asked Biff surprised.

"Yep, it was the waste bin in the bathroom - luckily, no rats leapt out on me that time." He opened the cover, but was disappointed to find that the pages were all blank, as the preceding pages had been torn out. Unperturbed, he proceeded to hold the book up to the overhead light and inspect it from an angle. "You got a pencil, Biff?" he asked.

His friend handed one over to him and watched as Joe sat down on the side of the bed. Rubbing the side of the lead gently across the page, Biff and Chet's were amazed to see writing beginning to appear.

"What does it say?" asked Chet excitedly.

Joe squinted, trying to make out the words. "I think it says 'John' and there's a telephone number, we'll get Callie to look it up on the computer tomorrow and see if we can track down the address attached to that number."


	12. Chapter 12

The next day found Joe and his friends back at Vanessa's house

The next day found Joe and his friends back at Vanessa's house. "Well, here's the address," said Callie, pushing the screen around so her friends could also read the Bayport address.

"Finally, I feel we're getting somewhere," remarked Joe.

"We've got something to go to the cops with now," pointed out Chet.

"Wrong again, Big Guy. A telephone number and an address do not make a man a criminal. We still have to I.D. him. So, although I hate to say this, it calls for a stakeout," said Joe.

"But I thought you hated stakeouts," protested Chet.

"I do, which is why I hated saying it - but I really want to make sure we nail this guy. I suggest we split this into two, six-hour shifts, that way we can make sure that the building is covered throughout the day. Vanessa, Callie and myself will do the evening shift - if that's okay with you two, of course?"

Vanessa and Callie looked at one another and nodded.

"Good, that leaves Biff and Chet the other shift," said Joe, looking to his friends for confirmation.

They both nodded their agreement.

"Anything," said Biff.

"Mind if I use your phone, Vanessa?" asked Joe.

"No, go right ahead, who are you phoning."

"Guess!"

"The number you found on the notebook?"

"The very same - I'm playing a hunch," he punched the numbers in and listening to the ringing tone. Finally, it was answered after seven rings.

_"Hello, Playbie's Adoption Agency,"_ said a female voice.

Joe was momentarily stunned and had to regain his composure before asking, "Erm, yes, sorry - can I speak to John, please?"

_"Hold on a moment, I'll see if he's available."_ The phone went dead as Joe was put on hold, he looked at his friends and raised an eyebrow. After a long wait another male voice came on the line. _"John speaking."_

"Who am I talking to, please?"

_"Who are you first?"_ asked the voice suspiciously.

"Never mind, wrong number, sorry to have troubled you," Joe replaced the receiver thoughtfully and turned to the others. "A woman answered with the introduction '_Playbie's Adoption Agency_ '.

"Wow," said Callie, after a pause.

"Do you think they're taking children to sell for adoption purposes?" said Biff.

"It's certainly a viable theory, dude."

"There'rea lot of couples out there who can't have children and are trying to adopt," said Vanessa. "It's a well known fact that many of these couples are ineligible under the current system."

"But would they be desperate enough to pay for a child?" asked Callie doubtfully.

"I think you're underestimating how desperate people can get when they find they can't adopt. Some will grab onto any lifeline that's offered," said Joe. "Also, I can't be one hundred percent certain, but John sounded like the man who tried to snatch Luke from Julie."

"Let's go and have a look at this address now," said Biff, decisively rising to his feet, pulling Chet up with him.

They drove in the van to the Hooper residence so Biff could pick up his car and then travelled to the address and parked up across the street. The building was a small office complex, attached to the side of a car scrap yard.

Joe took his camera from a box in the back of the van and walked with Chet across to Biff's car window. Biff wound down the window and took the camera from him. "It's not my birthday for another month, but thanks anyway."

"No, you idiot, this is for you to photograph anyone entering or leaving the building."

"Okay. What do we do if we see anyone who looks either like Wayne Powers or John?"

"Give me a call on the cell phone," said Joe. "The three of us will come out and identify them."

"Okay, understood," said Chet.

"I'll return in a few hours with some chow - can't have you starving to death can we? Mind you," Joe began, patting Chet's belly. "Chet would live much longer than you Biff, he has a larger fat reserve!"

"Funny guy!" retorted Chet, slapping Joe's hand away and climbing into the passenger seat.

"I want you guys to be careful, don't take any chances. Any sign of trouble, bail out, understand?"

Chet and Biff both nodded and Joe headed back to the van.

"I've got an idea," said Callie to Joe as he climbed back into the van. "Let's go to the new Cyber-Café in the mall and I'll use my previously unappreciated talent to access the Internet and research the car wrecking company next and Playbie's Adoption Agency".

"We we're debating if there might be a connection between the two companies - seems they're operating so closely together," Vanessa explained.

"Good thinking girls. That should blow a few hours and give us an excuse to have a drink," said Joe, turning the key in the ignition.

Joe, Vanessa and Callie ordered coffees and settled down in front of a PC – Callie beginning to work her computer magic. "Well…" Callie finally, sitting back on her seat. "The car wrecking company seems genuine enough, they've a website with accounts etc. Their figures show that the company seems to be doing okay and is taking a nice steady stream of money. All seems to be legitimate," she smiled suddenly and pressed the computer mouse. "This is kid of fun though, look at this…"

Joe and Vanessa looked over her shoulder and watched the image of a BMW being crushed.

"They've filmed all sorts of makes of cars and vehicles being destroyed for your viewing pleasure - you can select exactly which type you would like to see mangled." Callie turned to her friends dramatically. "I know I'llbe a regular visitor to the site, now that I realise how exciting this car crushing stuff is!"

Vanessa and Joe laughed.

Callie turned back to the screen and started clicking with her mouse again. "Hey, this gets better and better - a web-cam!" She clicked on the camera icon and a photograph of the car crusher appeared with a view of the street beyond.

Vanessa pointed at the screen excited and they laughed surprised when they saw she was pointing to Biff's car. "They're on candid camera!" she said.

"Hang on a second, Callie, does this site stock any archived, favourite web-cam images?" Joe asked.

Callie looked at the screen closely. "Yes, why?"

"Let me have a go with the mouse."

Callie swapped seats with Joe and he began clicking on the images and studying each one. "There's dozens of photographs on here," he observed. "Let's narrow the search down a bit," he pulled his notebook from his pocket and turned his findings concerning the missing children. His records gave names, descriptions and dates of when the children disappeared. He began systematically working his way through the pictures taken on the days the children went missing. Image after image flashed in front of them, until finally, Joe stiffened in his seat suddenly and turned to at Callie and Vanessa in excitement. "Do you see what I see?"

They both leaned towards the screen. There in front of them was an unmistakable image of both Wayne Powers and presumably 'John', walking hand-in-hand with a little girl.

"Joe," breathed Vanessa. "She looks like Chelsie Silvers the little four year old who was the last child to go missing, she's even wearing the same clothes."

"Print that off Joe. We have got to solve this case and get those children back to their folks," Callie said with determination.

"And we will," agreed Joe with equal determination. He collected the printed picture. "What you need to do now is research the adoption agency."

Two coffee's later and they still hadn't found any information on Playbie's Adoption Agency. "Well, I've run out of options. This adoption agency doesn't seem legit. I can't find anyinformation on the Internet, or via official channels. According to all the database's I have accessed, the company doesn't exist."

"Interesting," remarked Joe.

There was a thoughtful silence.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm all coffee'd out," Vanessa said. "Shall we window shop for a bit and then take some food to the boys, Chet will be wilting by now!"

They left the Cyber-Café and proceeded across the mall, glancing into windows and making small talk. Vanessa happened to glance across, and saw a sight that made her eyes grow like saucers. Frank and Gillian were strolling along, hand-in-hand, laughing together. She caught Joe's eye across Callie's head and jerked her head towards his brother.

"Erm…I've just remembered something I really have to buy urgently," Joe blurted out, grabbing Callie by an arm and hauling her into the nearest shop.

They stood in the entrance and Vanessa stared at Joe with a look that said 'you idiot!'

Joe shot her a look back and mouthed 'What?' and then finally took in his surroundings and realised all at once what she meant - they were standing in a ladies lingerie store!

"And what it is you want to buy from here exactly?" asked Callie surprised.

"Well, mom asked me to buy her some stockings for her night out with dad later - isn't that right Vanessa," replied Joe, desperately looking to his girlfriend for help. He was started to sweat.

"Yes, that's right. It's lucky you remembered Joe, she would have been really steamed if you'd forgotten!"

They walked to the hosiery section and Joe looked with confusion at the wide selection.

"What type of stockings did she ask you to get?" asked Callie, looking amused.

Joe's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. Vanessa was making furtive and strange movements with her hands behind Callie, it took him a few seconds to realise what she indicating towards. "Black ones" he spluttered out.

"Here are some black ones, Joe," said Vanessa, smoothly. "This is your mother's size, right?"

"Yes, yes it is. Thanks Nessa." Joe paid, and they left the store with Joe charging ahead. Exiting, he noted with relief that Frank and Gillian were no longer in sight.


	13. Chapter 13

Joe parked the van up to Biff's bumper, took his keys from the ignition and jumped out

Joe parked the van up to Biff's bumper, took his keys from the ignition and jumped out. Chet looked back in his seat and waved a greeting.

"What did you bring for me to eat?" Chet asked eagerly as he friend sat down in the back.

"Don't turn the bag over to him, Joe - he'll scoff the lot and I'll not get as much as a crumb!" Biff warned.

"I had no intention of handing Chet the bag. I know your not allowed to feed monkeys!"

"Quit it guys, I'm starved," Chet grabbed the bundle and rummaged for a burger. He passed the bag across to Biff who also helped himself hungrily.

"Seen anything interesting?" asked Joe looking out at the office building.

"Only people milling in and out. We took photographs of them, but none looked like our Mr Powers or 'John'. They looked like business types…you know…suit wearers. I'm beginning to understand why you hate surveillance so much, buddy."

"The rest of us had an interesting afternoon," Joe began. He filled them in on what they'd discovered and passed the picture of Wayne, 'John' and Chelsie around. Chet peered searchingly across the street at the scrap yard.

"I think I can see the web-cam, it's just above that window on the scrap yard's porta-cabin. I wonder if you can see Biff's car?"

"You can," Joe confirmed him. "We saw you in the 'Cyber Café'."

"Do you want us to carry on, in view of the new evidence?" asked Biff.

"In the meantime, yes. But once you spot either of our two guys, phone me immediately and I'll contact Chief Collig and let him in on everything we've discovered."

"Sounds like a good plan, but, if we're going to continue watching the building, it would be better, under the circumstances, if you weren't here," pointed out Biff.

"Trying to get rid of me?" asked Joe smirking.

"Not officially, but if either Mr Powers or 'John' sees and recognises you, our cover will be blown apart."

"You're right," Joe agreed. "If I don't hear from you before, give me a ring in a couple of hours and give me an update, and then Callie, me and Vanessa will take over - I'm out of here!"

"Okay, Champ. Speak to you later," said Chet.

Joe exited the car and drove the van homewards.

Joe entered the house and wandered into the sitting room finding Frank sitting watching TV with his feet up on the coffee table. Joe watched silently until his brother suddenly turned and looked back, realising he was being observed. "Oh, hi Joe. I didn't hear you come in."

"Sorry, did I make you jump?" asked Joe awkwardly.

"No, just thought I was being haunted by the ghost of my past," he went back to looking at the screen.

"What're you watching?" asked Joe.

Frank shrugged his shoulders. "Just a trashy soap."

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Joe asked, heading for the kitchen to fix himself a drink.

"Out for the night, gone for a meal with some client of Dad's."

"That's nice." Joe said, and stopped and loitered clumsily in the doorway, looking at the back of his brother's head again. "Frank…" he began.

"Yeah?"

"…I…erm…do you want a drink of something."

"If you're making one."

"Okay," he sighed resignedly and entered the kitchen fully. Stopping in front of the sink, he slapped himself hard on the forehead, annoyed for wimping out of the conversation he'd been meaning to have with his older brother since the previous day's argument.

"You don't want to do that too hard, or you could end up in the mess I'm in," said a downcast voice behind him. Joe turned and found Frank leaning in the doorway. Looking at Frank properly for the first time in two days, Joe noticed that his brother's face looked drawn, making him appear much older than his young 18 years.

Frank slumped into a kitchen chair and studied Joe back, narrowing his eyes. "You know what, Bro, we don't look so dissimilar you and me. We may have different hair and eye colour, but I can tell we're brothers - even if I can't remember it."

Joe sat down opposite him. "You're right, we're not that different. In fact, we make a great team."

"No, correction, we made a great team."

"And we will again."

"Will we?"

"Yes, you won't be like this forever, dude." Joe assured him.

"Wish I could believe that, bro."

"Believe it, it happened to me once you know. Your memory will come back eventually." Joe raised himself from the table and went about making them both a coffee.

"I'd give you a hand, but I can't for the life of me work out where mom keeps the sugar."

"You don't take sugar in coffee," Joe said.

"Don't I?"

Joe shook his head and smiled.

"Why do I think I do then? I'm so confused!" Frank grinned widely, suddenly seeing the funny side of the situation he found himself in. "No wonder I've got such great teeth!"

Joe swung around suddenly to face his brother. "Frank, about yesterday…"

"Don't worry about it, Joe. It was my fault. I've been a real idiot treating Callie the way I have."

Joe shook his head. "Like dad says, you can't blame yourself for something you're not in control of."

"Is Callie very upset?" asked Frank.

"She's not upset at all. Vanessa and me kept everything from her. She knows nothing about Gillian and she thinks I caught up with you before you were able to have your little drinking binge the other night."

"I really went off the rails, didn't I?"

"Oh yeah, dude. You didn't just go off the rails you exploded! Frank Hardy doesn't do the stuff you've been doing all week. But come to think of it, it _was_ pretty funny – especially when mom nearly caught us!"

Both brothers started to laugh, quietly at first and finally erupting into full belly laughs.

"You know what's even funnier?" said Frank through his tears of laughter.

"What?" asked Joe in a high-pitch voice, holding his stomach.

"Gillian dumped me today anyway - said I was immature." This news brought on a fresh wave of hysteria from both brothers.

Frank and Joe talked for a long time that evening, until night had fallen outside. They made pizza and lost all track of time. Joe felt it was almost like old times and Frank was amazed by the stories his brother entertained him with.

Consulting his watch, surprised by the passing of time Frank stated, "Mom and Dad will be home in a couple of hours. Mom'll be relieved when she sees we're getting along."

Joe jerked bolt upright. "What time is it?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"9.30, why?"

"They were supposed to ring me at 8.00 – I can't believe I forgot about it!"

"What…what's wrong?" asked Frank, disturbed. His eyes followed Joe as he jumped up and leapt up the stairs, two steps at a time.

"What is it?" Frank shouted again after him.

Joe's feet reappeared and he peeped around the stairwell. "Nothing serious," he replied, deciding to play it down. "Biff and Chet said they'd phone me and let me know if they could come over tonight, that's all."

"That was a pretty strong reaction to a forgotten phone call," observed Frank.

"Yeah, I know, sorry about that. I always over-react to things. In fact, you're always telling me off about it - some things never change, eh?" Joe had decided not to involve Frank in the investigation, it would take too long to explain everything, and on a cut-throat level, he realised Frank wasn't up to the task.

He entered his father's study and shut the door behind him so he wouldn't be overheard and reached for the phone. Sitting down at his father's desk, he quickly dialled Biff's cell phone and listened for the ring tone. He allowed the phone to ring for a full minute before finally accepting that no one was going to answer.

"_I wonder if they went home?"_ he considered, aware that he was probably grasping at straws. He rang their homes and spoke to both their mothers. They both confirmed that they hadn't seen Biff or Chet all day. Both had assumed that they were still out with Joe, Vanessa and Callie.

Sitting back in the swivel chair, he picked at his eyebrow, considering the next plan of action. _"Of course!" _he thought, snapping his fingers. He leant forward and turned on Fenton's computer. He logged onto the Internet and accessed the scrap yard's site. He went straight to the web-cam icon and clicked on it, watching impatiently as the picture slowly flickered into view. Although the image was dark, due to the hour of the night, there was a street light beaming straight down onto Biff's car - Joe could clearly see that the car was now unoccupied.


	14. Chapter 14

Joe placed a phone call to his girlfriend and spoke to Mrs Bender, who put her daughter on the phone

Joe placed a phone call to his girlfriend and spoke to Mrs Bender, who put her daughter on the phone.

_"Hi, Joe," _she said brightly. "Are you on your way?…"

Joe interrupted her. "Vanessa, have you spoken to Biff or Chet tonight?" he asked tensely.

_"No, but it's the end of their watch isn't it? Aren't you picking me and Callie up so we can take over?"_

"Well, I was, but me and Frank got talking and I kinda forgot."

"_Oh Joe…" she said, and sighed theatrically. "What's up?"_ she asked, her tone had changing to one of concerned puzzlement when Joe didn't rise to her jibe.

"Biff and Chet agreed they would phone me at 8.00 to give an update, but I haven't heard from them and I only just realised."

_"Maybe they've gone straight home?" _she suggested.

"I wish the explanation was that simple, I've just had another look at the scrap yard's web-cam – Biff's car's still parked there, but it's empty."

_"Did you phone their parents?"_

"Yes, I even phoned the Biff's cell-phone, but no one answered," Joe paused and came to a decision. "I think something's really wrong. I'm going out there to find out what's happened."

He listened as Vanessa's voice spoke anxiously to someone else. She came back on the line. _"In that case, me and Callie are coming too."_

"No, it could be dangerous, I'd feel happier if you were both safely at home."

_"No way macho-man, we're in this together, remember? Where you go, we go!"_

"Okay," he agreed, sighing resignedly. "Rather than me pick you up, come in your own car. Just don't pull up right next to Biff's car, park half a block away and I'll find you."

Joe was driving, barely keeping within the speed limit. He was thinking about the difficulty he'd had convincing Frank he was going out to meet Vanessa

"At this late an hour?" Frank had asked, suspiciously.

"Hey, some things can only be done at night," he'd said, looked into Frank's eyes, and waggled his eyebrows.

Frank gave him a knowing smile, nodded and winked. "Ah. Say no more, Bro, you ol' dog! Don't worry, I won't wait up and cover for you with mom and dad if you need me to."

As he drew nearer, to their rendezvous he began to scan the streets, keeping a look out for Callie and Vanessa. Finally he spotted a familiar little red car and pulled in behind. He was turning the engine off, as the girls were climbing out to meet him.

"Did you hear anything from them yet?" asked Vanessa.

"No, not a word, " said Joe. "I feel kind of guilty because I told them to phone me and forgot until over an hour after the agreed time."

"There's no time to cry over split milk, let's see if we can find them, although knowing those two they've probably gone to find a pizzeria!"

"I hope so, Callie, I really do."

They jogged to Biff's car. Joe peered into the interior and carefully tried the door. To his surprise it was unlocked. "That's not a very promising start," he muttered, leaning in. "The key's still in the ignition too," he reported before extracting it from the ignition and putting it into his pocket. He leaned further in and pulled the glove box open, inside was Joe's camera. Examining it, he was surprised to find the film still intact and that 17 shots had been snapped.

Vanessa looked down and noticed something shining in the lamplight. "What's that?" she bent down to take a closer look. "Uh-oh, look what I found guys."

Joe tucked the camera back into the glove box and backed out of the door to see what she and Callie were looking at. Vanessa pointed towards the car's back tyre and Joe saw that it was a chrome coloured cell phone. He picked it up, pressed a key and put the phone to his ear. "It's still working, Biff must have dropped it."

"So, what do you think happened to them?" asked Callie.

"It doesn't take a genius!" Joe replied, tucking it into his inside pocket. He looked across at the office building. "Come on, I think a spot of snooping is in order."

They ran quickly and quietly across the street and up the side of the building. Crouching low beneath the windows they began to make their way slowly along, listening as they went. Finally Joe held up a halting hand and they stopped, hearing voices. They could just about make out what was being said:

_"Look kid, if you don't come clean as to why you were spying on us, things are gonna get real rough!"_

_"I don't know what you're talking about, Mister. like I said, we were just watching cars being crushed - it's our hobby. We often sit out there watching, honest."_

_"All day?" _scoffed the voice.

_"Yes, sometimes. Look, just let us go, I promise we won't tell anyone, it'll be our secret."_

"That's Chet's voice," whispered Callie. They others nodded in agreement.

_"I've had it with you, kid. Seems you're so unwilling to tell us who you are, or what you were doing out there, I'll have to beat it outa ya!"_

They heard a scuffle break out and the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor. Callie gripped Joe and Vanessa's forearms.

_"WAYNE! CONTROL YOURSELF!" _shouted a third voice. "W_e've plenty of time to get information out of them. Take him back upstairs and lock him up! Come back down when your done, we need to talk."_

There was a pause.

_"Okay, you heard the man, get up Fatso"_

They heard a door open and the sound of feet leaving the room. Joe shuffled back a little way and leaned over, inspecting the upper windows in order to ascertain which room Chet was being taken too. All the rooms were dark except one, which also had the blinds drawn tightly down _"That must be it,"_ he thought, crouching down under the window again and continuing to listened.

_"Wayne Powers is becoming a liability. We'll have to think of a way to get rid of him -_ _permanently."_

_"I've had enough of him too. His high-handedness is poor for business."_

_"He almost got us caught the other night in the park, and that should have been an easy job. That wouldn't have happened before he came on-board. We were strictly professional then."_

They heard the door open again and the room fell silent for a moment.

_"Don't you __ever__ speak to me like that again!" _hissed a voice, which – to the young people crouched on the other side of the window – obviously belonged to Wayne Powers.

_"Maybe the kid was right, maybe he and his buddy __were__ just watching the car crusher?"_

_"You think you so clever, don't ya Len? Well for your information, Einstein, the car crusher was not even being used today! So why would they have been?"_

Joe, Vanessa and Callie heard someone approach the window and were forced to duck lower and push themselves as flat to the wall as possible to avoid detection. A radio was switched on loudly, drowning out any further conversation.

"Head to the corner of the building," Joe whispered. They crept to their destination, stopped and got into a tight huddle.

"I counted four voices in that room, not including Chet," said Joe.

"Me too, " confirmed Vanessa.

"So, what's the plan?" whispered Callie.

"I'm going to go in and get them out," said Joe

"Not without us your not - you're not abandoning us here!"

"I wouldn't dream of it! Wait here, I'll check the front door," he approached the entrance furtively and pushed the doors. He was not surprised to find they were locked. Returning to the girls, he said. "We'll have to find another way in."

They headed around the other side of the building and were relieved to note that there were no lights on, indicating that all rooms on that side of the building were unoccupied. The first two windows were shut tight, but the third window was ajar at the top.

"That opening's too small for even Callie to squeeze through," observed Vanessa.

"Don't worry, I'll fix that," said Joe. He grasped the top of the window and, gritting his teeth, hauled himself up with one arm onto the window ledge, thankful for all the pull-ups he did at the gym. He balanced himself and reached through the window, put his hand around the latch to the larger pane below and twisted it open. He jumped down nimbly beside the girls and Callie opened the window wide.

"Ladies first," he offered.

"What a gent," jested Vanessa. She boosted herself through the window and quietly dropped to the carpeted floor. She turned and helped her smaller friend through and together they helped Joe climb in.

He went to the door, opened it and peered through the gap. "All clear," he whispered and gestured for them to follow. They stealthily and silently moved along the lit corridor towards the stairs, passing more doorways. They were bypassing the room with the radio playing when, suddenly, there came the sound of a door opening further down the hall. They momentarily froze, unable to react. Joe mentally shook himself and pulled on the nearest door handle, luckily it opened and he pushed the girls in. They stood in the dark, with their ears to the door listening to the footsteps approaching, which, to their relief, passed safely by and entered a room opposite. Joe opened up again and this time they were able to make it to the stairwell.

Upon reaching the first floor, they observed immediately that one of the doors was sealed shut by the use of a chair pushed up against the doorknob. Vanessa removed the chair and they opened the door. Chet and Biff were sitting back to back in the middle of the floor, their faces bearing the impressions of rabbits caught in a headlight. Biff had been in the midst of untying Chet's hands.

"Man!" Biff exclaimed. "We thought you were Powers coming back to fetch one of us for questioning again. What took you guys so long?"

"Sorry, I forgot about the phone call," Joe apologised, looking sheepish.

"Just remind me to do the same for you sometime, pal!" countered Chet, annoyed. "Get me out of this rope."

Vanessa and Callie crouched down and untied the boys. They stood and Chet and Biff rubbed their wrists feeling sensation returning.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Callie.

"Yeah, got a bruise on my rump though, where that thug shoved me over," said Chet.

"We heard that, we were outside the window," said Joe. "So, what happened?"

"We were sitting in the car looking at the building when someone came up beside the car and tapped on the window," began Biff. "I shoved the camera in the glove box, assuming it was the cops until I looked and saw a gun pointing at me – it was Wayne Powers. He made us get out of the car and fog-marched us in here."

"He questioned Biff first, but couldn't get anything out of him and decided to have a go at me instead," finished Chet. "He knew we were watching the building, he was watching us watching them!"

"He saw you come by earlier, Joe, and recognised you, or he thought he did. I half persuaded him that he was mistaken, enough to put doubt in his mind anyway. I think it bought us more time," said Biff.

"Let's get out of here," said Callie, heading for the door.

"No, wait," said Biff.

Callie stopped and looked back.

"We can't just leave without searching this place first. I heard filing cabinets being opened and closed whilst I was being questioned downstairs, we can collect together as much evidence as possible, high-tail out of here and turn the whole thing over to Chief Collig. At least then, the proof would be safely in _our_ hands as opposed to theirs."

"Breaking and entering again?" asked Vanessa, smiling slightly.

"Not the same thing, we were invited inside, whether we liked it or not, remember?" replied Chet.

"Ah, good point!"

They exited the room and Callie replaced the chair against the door to disguise the boys' escape.

Tip-toeing down the stairs with Biff in the lead, they were lead to a vacant room, next door to the room the suspects were occupying. He all quickly entered, closed the quietly after them and drew the blinds tightly down before switching on the light. They looked around them and saw that they were standing in a make-shift office which contained a desk, book cases, and a filing cabinet.

Joe immediately moved towards the cabinet and was disappointed to find it locked. Unperturbed, he took a paperclip from the desk and began fiddling with the lock. A few minutes passed and the cabinet draw slid open.

They all gathered round expectantly as Joe riffled through the contents. He pulled out file after file and handed them out. "Everybody look through what they've got and hold onto anything that may be of use," he instructed in a low whisper.

The only sound to be heard was the radio next door and the sound of shuffling manuscripts. Callie pulled a document from a folder excitedly and tapped Joe on the shoulder, pushing it under his nose. It was a list of names and addresses of several couples. Next to that information were descriptions of children. Three of those had been crossed through, of those, all three descriptions matched the descriptions of the missing children. The paper was monochromed and had a _Playbie's Adoption Agency_ letterhead and logo. Callie also showed him some photographs she'd pulled from the file - instamatic photographs of the children, obviously taken without their parents' knowledge or permission. Joe gripped her shoulder in delight and she folded the piece of paper and pushed it, along with the photos, into her back pocket.

Joe waved them all together into a huddle. "Callie's found what we came for, now let's get out of here."

"Good for Callie, but you ain't going nowhere!" said a controlled voice in the doorway.

They spun to find there was a pistol trained on them and Wayne Powers grinning nastily on the end of the gun.


	15. Chapter 15

Joe placed a phone call to his girlfriend and spoke to Mrs Bender, who put her daughter on the phone

"So, we meet again," said Powers, glaring straight in Joe's direction.

"Yes, and this time, I'm going to take you down," replied Joe in a low, threatening voice.

Wayne threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Is that a threat, Kid? Because I think you'll find I hold the advantage," he waved the gun to further emphasise how big an advantage it was.

The other three members of the gang crowded into the room looking at the devastation left by the teenagers' search. Amongst the men was John.

Wayne gestured with the gun towards the corner of the room. "Get over there and put your hands on your heads." Doing as they were told they put their hands up and huddled close together.

"Not you two," he said addressing Callie and Vanessa. "I want you over here - can't have the boys getting over excited and heroic can we. You girls are my insurance!"

"Leave them alone!" Joe growled.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt them. But if you mess about with me, you might force my hand!"

Callie turned to face Joe, with her back to Powers. "It's okay, Sweetheart, don't worry about us." His eyes widening in surprise as her arms snaked around his neck and hugged him tenderly, brushing his lips with hers. Her hands slid slowly down to his chest and she pushed her arms inside his jacket. He felt something being removed from his inside pocket and suddenly understood what she was doing. She pulled away from him and looked him in the eye giving him a cheeky wink.

Vanessa gaped at their play-acting, not understanding at all what had just happened.

"Okay, enough of the floorshow, now, get over here," Power's snapped.

Callie walked towards Powers and stood beside Vanessa who was now regarding her with suspicion, Callie winked at her conspiratorially and Vanessa visibly relaxed.

"Jack, get some rope and tie these boys up - good and tight this time, we don't want them getting away again!"

"Wayne, what do you think your doing? We can't keep these kids prisoners!" said the short and wiry, Jack.

"What do you suggest we do Jack? Set them free to run to the cops? Look around you, they know all about the operation now."

"Yeah, but…"

"JUST GET THE ROPE!"

Jack jumped and without saying another word left the room and returned moments later with lengths of twine.

"Hands behind your backs," ordered Wayne. None of the boys moved. Powers grabbed Vanessa by the hair and pulled her towards him causing her to yelp in pain. "Obviously, I wasn't making myself clear, don't make me repeat myself."

"Okay, okay, just leave her alone," said Biff putting his hands together.

"You're hurting her, you moron!" spat Callie.

He homed in on her "You want some too?" Callie shook her head quickly and stepped out of range into John who took her by the upper arm.

Jack tied Biff's hands and then went to work on Joe. He pulled the rope tightly against his wrists and he felt a searing pain as the rope dug into the skin. He was relieved to be wearing the bandage, or it would have been considerably more painful. He managed to control his facial expression, not wishing to show Wayne Powers any sign of weakness.

Once Biff, Chet and Joe where bound he released Vanessa's hair and grasped her arm instead, pushing the weapon into her ribs.

"Len, Jack, take them upstairs - and make sure they don't get out of the room this time!" Len was the forth man of the group. He had a smart haircut and wore an expensive looking suit. He indicated for the boys to follow Jack and they began to walk.

"Don't forget," began Wayne, they all stopped and looked back. "Try anything funny and it's bye-bye girlfriends!"

Joe watched as John and Powers took the girls by an arm each and marched them out. The last sight he saw was of Vanessa looking wistfully back at him, locking eyes with her momentarily before she was pulled into the room.

"Keep going kid," said Len pushing him roughly in the back. They walked upstairs and entered the same room Biff and Chet had occupied earlier.

"Jack, I can tell that you're not happy with what's going on," said Joe, beginning to negotiate. "Why don't you let us go and we'll give you two a head start before we call the cops?"

"Nice try, Kid," replied Jack.

"You're not going to stand by and let that thug terrorise two defenceless girls are you?"

"Sorry, we're not in control of this operation any longer, Wayne is," explained Len.

"What do you mean?" asked Chet.

"Shut up, Len!" protested Jack.

"Why? The kids already know everything, what harm can it do? If I know Wayne, they'll be dead by tonight anyway!" Jack shrugged his shoulders and Len turned back to the teenagers. "Wayne found out about our adoption set-up and blackmailed his way into the operation."

"You're selling kids to childless couples, right?" asked Joe.

"We were good at it too and making real money. That is, we were until Wayne decided he wanted in on the action. He's crazy, almost insane..." he paused unable to finish when he heard a voice yelling up the stairs.

"GET BACK DOWN HERE YOU TWO, WAYNE'S CALLING A MEETING."

Jack and Len immediately left, returning the chair to the doorknob. The boys listened to their receding footsteps.

"Joe," said Chet, worried. "Your arm's bleeding."

"Don't worry about it," Joe said, dismissively and turned to Biff. "Try the door and see if you can open it."

Biff, turned his back to the door, bent forward slightly and attempted to turn the door knob. "Sorry, no go, my hands are totally numb, he did a really good job on me this time."

"Me too, agreed Chet."

"What are we going to do?" asked Biff, frustrated, looking to Joe for direction.

"I don't know, but I think Callie's got a trick up her sleeve!" he said smiling.

Wayne pushed the girls down to the floor in a corner of the large room. "Sit there. If you do exactly as you're told, you won't get hurt, understood?" Both girls nodded, frightened and held hands.

The other three men entered and they all sat down around the table and began to talk in low tones, ensuring that the girls were unable to overhear. Jack and Len began to look uncomfortable, gesticulating wildly with their hands and shaking their heads in disagreement. Vanessa was watching them closely, trying to lip-read what was being discussed.

Callie gently nudged her friend with her elbow to get her attention and let go of her hand. She looked down and Vanessa followed her gaze. Vanessa watched, fascinated, as the outline of an object slipped down Callie's sleeve and out into her waiting hand – it was Biff's cell phone. "Sorry about making moves on your boyfriend," she whispered. "But I had to get the mobile out of his pocket," she pushed it back up her sleeve and leaned back against the wall.

"How are you going to use it without them seeing?" asked Vanessa.

Callie raised an eyebrow and suddenly put her hand to her forehead. She started to sway and gave off a feeble groan.

"Cal, are you okay?" asked Vanessa in a loud voice, putting her arm around her friend with a worried expression on her face. The men turned as one to see what was happening.

"I feel faint," she replied and fell limply against her friend with her eyes closed.

Jack jumped up and rushed to her side. "What's the matter with her?" he demanded.

"She's fainted!" replied Vanessa. She carefully laid Callie down, took her hand and rubbed her wrist briskly. Her eyes fluttered open and looked at Callie confused. By now the other men had stood to observe what was happening. Vanessa placed the back of her hand on Callie's forehead.

"She's pretty hot, is there a restroom around here?"

"Yeah, just down the corridor," said Jack.

"Help me get her to her feet," she stood and helped Callie, who showed she was unsteady on her feet by stumbling. Jack caught her by her other arm and they slowly walked her from the room.

"I hope you're satisfied," said Vanessa, addressing Wayne. "Look at what you've done, you nearly scared her to death."

Wayne shrugged his shoulders, unmoved.

They entered the restroom and Callie leant against the washbasins. Vanessa put her arm around her and started to run the cold water. Turning to look at the men, she said. "Thanks for the help boys, you can leave us alone now, this is purely woman territory."

Jack turned to leave and looked surprised at Wayne who stood motionless. "Come on Wayne, we can wait outside the door."

"No, they're planning something."

"Don't be paranoid, they're just a couple of girls! Besides, there are no opening windows, so there's no escape route."

Wayne took another long withering look at them, finally conceded and left with his companion.

"Phew, I didn't think they were ever going to go," said Callie, making a miraculous recovering.

"We should get an Oscar for that bit of acting. Quick make the call!"

Callie pulled the cell-phone from her sleeve and dialled the Hardys' number.

Frank was lying on the sofa in the sitting room, dozing when the phone rang piercingly, jolting him awake. _"That must be Mom and Dad," _he assumed. He stood unhurriedly, gave a leisurely stretch, yawned and reached for the phone. "Yo!" he snapped, by way of a welcome.

_"Frank, is that you?" asked a frightened voice._

"Callie, is that you babe? What's digs?"

_"Frank, we're in big trouble, you've got the help us, they're holding us prisoner and we don't know what they're going to do to us!"_

"Whoa, slow down Girl! What do you mean you're being held prisoner? Who is?" asked Frank confused.

_"All of us, Joe, me, Vanessa, Biff and Chet - _quick, bring your dad to the phone_…"_

He heard her take a sharp intake of breath and the sound of a loud, gunshot permeated the airways, followed by Vanessa's screams. Frank's hand jumped and he hit himself hard in the temple with the phone's receiver. Staggering back he tripped over the coffee table and went down heavily, pulling the phone from the table.

He was starting to get to his feet; feeling pretty foolish, when his head started to hurt and the room began to spin swiftly. The pain became more intense, like a jackhammer in his mind causing him to clutch on to the sides of his head and cry out. Flashing lights started behind his eyes, blinding him and he fell back to his knees and began crawling about the floor trying to locate the phone to get himself some help. Finally, just when he thought he would go mad with the pain, his brain went into total shut down and a merciful blackness enveloped him.


	16. Chapter 16

Joe placed a phone call to his girlfriend and spoke to Mrs Bender, who put her daughter on the phone

The three boys were still sitting on the floor of the room when they heard the gunshot and Vanessa's shrill scream. They immediately climbed to their feet, rushed to the door and began kicking the woodwork violently and hollering at the top of their lungs.

They eventually heard footsteps thundering up the stairs and along the corridor, the door was flung open, revealing Wayne and John with the gun and a pale Vanessa. "Shut your noise!" Powers bellowed.

Joe advanced on him. "What have to done to Callie?" he demanded to know.

"I've done nothing to your precious Callie, it was a warning shot. Your girlfriend thought she was clever enough to fool me and I interrupted her making a phone call on this," he held up the cell phone and threw it across the room, smashing it to pieces against the wall.

"I don't believe you!"

"Tell them," said John to Vanessa, shaking her by the arm.

"It's true, guys, we were making the phone call in the bathroom when they interrupted us. Callie's unhurt, I promise."

"Are you okay?" asked Biff.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Okay, that's enough chit-chat," said Wayne grasping the doorknob. "If I hear any more noise, your girlfriends' will heartily regret it," with that he slammed the door on them.

Frank opened his eyes. He felt like he'd been drugged - his eyelids were heavy and it took some effort to open them and bring his eyes into focus. He was lying on his side next to the stricken phone. Rolling slowly onto his back he wondered vaguely as to what the heck had just happened to him. He had no recollection as to what had just occurred.

But then suddenly something went pop in his head and he went limp. Staring sightlessly up at the ceiling, his eyes rolled back in their sockets as images started to tumble round above him forming a huge spiral. The spiral began to spin, slowly at first and then picking up speed, moving faster and faster, becoming tighter and tighter until finally, upon reaching its maximum velocity, it imploded and all the images were sucked into the centre until all that was left was a single bright, white dot which slamming down in between Frank's eyes and he juddered.

Blinking a couple of times, Frank sat bolt upright. "I remember everything!" he shouted out loud, delighted and surprised at the same time. However, his expression turned sour when he remembered the frightening phone call he'd just received from his girlfriend. He turned and grabbed the telephone, pressed last number recognition and read the time of the call on the readout. Comparing it with his wristwatch he realised despondently that he'd been out of it for a good ten minutes.

Getting to his feet he leapt up the stairs into Joe's room and quickly went to his desk draw and yanked it open. It held Joe's notebook that he'd been keeping throughout the investigation. Frank wasn't surprised to find it there, his brother always kept his case notes in that drawer. He often berated his brother for his habit of not locking his paperwork safety away, and was glad on this occasion his brother hadn't followed his advice. Sitting down on the corner of the bed, he began to scan through the book, his eyes finally resting on the final entries, including the office building's address. He read about the web-cam, went to his own room to switch on his PC. He accessed the junkyard's web-cam and, sure enough, there was Biff's empty car.

He went to his bedside drawer, rummaged around and retrieved his motorbike keys. He grabbed his leather jacket and bounded down the stairs and out of the house.

Opening the garage doors with his remote unit, he was relieved to note that despite the fact he hadn't ridden his bike for several months, it was parked close to the front of the doors with the helmet hanging on the wing mirror. He kicked the stand away, wheeled the bike out onto the driveway and mounted it. Gunning the engine to life he gingerly pushed his helmet onto his head, pressing the remote control over his shoulder to drop the garage door. His bike gave off a loud roar, and he sped off down the driveway, skidded round the bend and almost collided with a car coming the other way. He veered out of range, picked up speed and shot away.

The black sedan did a wide u-turn and took off after the speeding motorbike.

"Can you guy's smell something?" asked Chet nervously.

Joe and Biff sniffed the air and looked at each other "Gasoline!" they both exclaimed simultaneously.

"They're going to burn this place!" Chet cried. "With us in it!"

"Maybe they're just trying to destroy evidence?" Joe suggested.

"I hope you're right," said Biff.

The door opened and they saw John standing there. "Get up, we're leaving."

"You're not leaving us here to burn?" asked Chet surprised and relieved in equal measures.

Joe shot him a look, not wishing any ideas to be put in John's head.

"Luckily for you we've managed to persuade Wayne not to let you or your girlfriends go up in smoke - but don't push your luck, Kid."

They left the room and were led down to the ground floor. Callie and Vanessa were waiting with Wayne. He had his arm about Callie, his hand resting on her neck, the gun levelled at her face. "Your girlfriends pretty fiery, Joe, you should be proud!" he caressed her cheek with the gun barrel.

They watched as Jack and Len spilled flammable liquid all over the carpet in the hallway. After they had used the last of the gasoline they tossed the cans aside.

"That should do it. Let's go," said Len.

They walked out into the street and Wayne led the teenagers to his truck.

"As you can see, the garage made a lovely repair job on the window. That's the beauty of working next to a scrap yard. Lots of under-the-table upgrades," he added. "It made the repair completely untraceable too – clever eh?"

"If you say so, but we didn't have trouble tracking you down, and neither will the cops," replied Joe.

"I'm so _sick_ of your smart mouth, Kid. Shut your face, or I'll black the other eye!" Wayne now addressed his three companions, "You can go now, I'll load these kids on the back, start the fire and meet you at the other end."

They nodded and departed, only too glad to leave the dirty work to their friend.

"Okay, Girly," he said, addressing Vanessa. "Help yourself to the keys out of my right hand pocket." Vanessa reached into his jacket and pulled a key forth. "Now open the back doors." She did as ordered and swung them wide. "In you go lads, and no funny stuff." Vanessa helped them climb awkwardly aboard. "Keep going all the way to the front and sit down".

He released Callie and trained the gun on Vanessa instead. "Callie, take the rope from my back pocket and tie your friend's hands behind her back." She hesitated and Callie and Vanessa looked stunned at each other. "Get a move on!" He pushed the gun closer to her friend.

Callie walked behind him and pulled a piece of twine from his pocket, noticing that there was more rope than was needed and understood what was probably going to happen to her next. "I'm sorry Vanessa," she said, her voice breaking.

"Just do it Cal, I don't want him to hurt you," replied her friend softly. She turned her back and Callie bound her. Vanessa kept her muscles ridged, hoping that afterwards it would provide enough give so she could free herself. This was a trick that Joe had told her about, something that he and Frank had made use of several times.

"Now help your friend into the back and lock the doors behind her." Callie did as instructed and she and Wayne were alone.

Vanessa's eyes adjusted to the dark and finally was able to make out the outlines of the guys at the other end of the van. She made her way towards them.

"Are you okay?" asked Joe.

"I feel like were in a nightmare, and I'll be waking up soon dripping in a cold sweat."

"I wish," commented Biff.

"Can you get your hands free?" asked Chet hopefully.

"Hang on, I'm working on it," she smiled ruefully, "Either Callie's rubbish at tying knots, or she's done us a huge favour, because these ropes aren't very tight." She wriggled and felt the binding come loose around her right wrist. Gritting her teeth she pulled her arm and managed to force it though the loop. "Done it," she gasped triumphantly, yanking the rope free from her other wrist. She knelt to untie Biff. "This is not easy in the dark," she muttered, picking at the tight knots frustrated.

"Take your time," said Joe.

Frank was half way to his goal, taking the bike's speed to the limit. He knew he was driving crazily, but was also aware he had no other choice.

A quarter of a mile behind him, the black sedan was having trouble keeping up and had to be satisfied with following his tail light. The driver wondered why the older Hardy brother was in such a damn hurry.

Wayne put his hand against Callie's chest and held her against the van whilst he holstered the pistol in his inside pocket. "Got a little surprise for you Callie," he said pulling the twine from his pocket.

"That's no surprise, I guessed that was for me."

"Ah no, you don't understand, _this_ isn't the surprise!" He said wiggling the rope in front of her face. Callie's frowned and shook her head not understanding.

"Look over there and tell me what you see."

Callie looked across to where he was pointing towards the other side of the junkyard.

"What? The crusher?" she asked.

"Yep," he smiled. "Still not getting it?"

She shook her head again.

"Let me help you, what is destroyed in a crusher?"

"You can't be serious!" Callie said quietly, his plan dawning on her.

"Deadly serious - gonna make a cube out of you and your friends!" he started to laugh evilly.

As Callie stared horrified into his eyes, the realisation hit that this man was totally deranged. She therefore knew that no amount of sane persuasion would help them now. Gritting her teeth, Callie pulled her leg back and thrust her knee straight up into his groin. He gave off a wild howl, doubled up and grabbed at himself, allowing her the opportunity to run.

Callie put her head down she ran faster than she'd ever run in her life, round the truck, through the yard and out into the street. She bounded across the road to Biff's car - hoping that the keys were still inside – unaware that Joe had removed them earlier. Looking into the interior of the car, she banged the roof in frustration when she saw that they'd gone. Wasting no more time, she took off again, screaming for help. Hearing heavy footsteps running behind her she turned and saw that Powers had recovered enough to come after her. "Get away from me you freak!" she yelled.

Realising she would be unable to outrun him she headed for the nearest doorway and began banging loudly and yelling for assistance. Gaining no response she ran to the next one and repeated the exercise, gradually realising, to her dismay that help was not going to be forthcoming.

Glancing fearfully over her shoulder Callie found that Power's was almost upon her and staggered clumsily forward, catching her foot. She fell on all fours and scrambled frantically away, but her flight was halted by a strong hand catching on to her the ankle. She twisted sideways and kicked out with her other foot catching him a glancing blow to the shoulder, unfortunately, not hard enough to stop his assault.

Callie screamed in terror as his insane face loomed over hers, trapping her left arm to her side beneath his leg. She reached out with her other hand grasping for any sort of weapon, her hand curling around a rock and she swung it hard towards him. Wayne second guessed her intention, caught her arm and pinned it down whilst he wrapped his other fist around her neck and slowly squeezed.

"You see," said Wayne pushing his face close to the terrified girl. "My partners-in-crime didn't want me to roast you or your friends, but to tell you the truth, I much prefer the personal touch - more stylish, I'm sure you agree?" he saw that Callie had passed out. "Oh well, I'm sure you would have agreed, if you could've!" Wayne flipped her over and tied her wrists and ankles, picked her up and carried her back to the truck. He opened the passenger door and threw her across the front seat.

Vanessa had managed to untie Biff's hands and they were both working on Joe and Chet. The knots had been tied so tightly that it took Biff a full minute before any feeling crept back, and now his was suffering violent pins and needles.

Vanessa felt Joe's knots loosen and quickly finished the job. She'd felt something warm and damp with her hand and suspected what it was. "Is that blood?" she asked.

"Yeah, but don't worry, I can't feel a thing anyway!"

"You'll be eating your words once the numbness wears off, believe me," warned Biff.

"You know what I think?" said Chet. "I'm beginning to think that Mr Powers has decided to abandon us here, he's been gone a good while now."

They all went silent, contemplating what he'd said. "If that's the case, he's taken Callie," whispered Vanessa.

Joe put his arms around his girlfriend and hugged her tightly. "We'll get out of here in a minute," he promised her.

They all felt the truck rock slightly as someone climbed into the front.

"Mr Powers hasn't gone after all," remarked Biff, as they heard the truck door slam.

Frank was now cruising the streets, looking for Biff's car. He wasn't sure of the exact whereabouts of the office building and was annoyed with himself for being so ill prepared as to not bring a map of the area with him. He knew this was the general vicinity when he saw a familiar looking van up ahead and drew to a halt next to it, in front was Vanessa's car.

The black sedan pulled silently into the curb, watching Frank inspecting the vehicles.

Wayne entered the building, lit a match and flicked it away, the second it hit the ground a blue flame quickly spread across the carpeted hallway. He walked calmly from the building, passed the truck and bashed it with the palm of his hand. He headed around the back and placed his face against the door. "Hey kids, he shouted, I'm taking you on a little ride, hold tight!"

The teens on the back of the vehicle looked towards the doors surprised.

Wayne walked across the yard to the crane and climbed the metal hand ladder up into the cockpit. He bent down and yanked wires from under the control panel, selected two cables, stripped them and touched the ends together. The crane engine rumbled into life and then died. He sighed impatiently and tried again – this time succeeding in hotwiring the engine. Looking across at the offices and was pleased to see that the fire was now ablaze.

Using the controls in front of him he swung the crane arm to the right. Aiming the claw directly over the truck, he opened its teeth and let it drop.

Biff and was still working on Chet's bonds, when the claw hit the roof with a huge crash.

"GET DOWN" shouted Joe throwing himself on top of Vanessa.

Biff and Chet hit the deck as one. Biff continued to work on Chet whilst they were lying down.

"NO WAY, THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" yelled Chet.

Joe could feel Vanessa's ragged, terrified breathing beneath him.

They heard metal screaming and watched in morbid fascination as the claw's teeth bit through the sides of the truck above them, ripping gashes that allowed moonlight to come flooding in. They felt the vehicle being hoisted up like a feather from the ground and they were swinging free.


	17. Chapter 17

Joe placed a phone call to his girlfriend and spoke to Mrs Bender, who put her daughter on the phone

Frank removed his helmet and immediately noticed the strong, pungent smell of burning. He looked to his right and spotted smoke curling into the air in the distance. Replacing his head protection he kicked his bike into action and sped towards the fire.

He braked in front of the blazing building which was now burning out of control with flames licking from the upstairs windows and instantly recognised Biff's car parked across the street. Throwing his helmet aside, he dropped his bike unceremoniously into the road and ran as close to the office block as heat would allow. "JOE!" he bellowed through cupped hands running to and fro, fighting the rising feeling of panic in the pit of his stomach.

Above the noise of the inferno, he heard a loud rumbling sound and for the first time noticed the crane, black against the night sky. There came a second rumbling as the engine kicked into life. Frank shouted and ran, waving his hands madly in the air hoping to attract the operator's attention. He stopped, watching mesmerised as the arm swung across and crashed down on top of a large, familiar looking vehicle parked close to where he'd stopped. Hearing another noise above the cacophony, he strained his ears to listen. It was shouting he heard – panicked voices and instantly recognised them as belonging to Joe and Chet!

The claw gripped the truck and hoisted it high into the air. Frank's eyes travelled to the claw, up the heavy-duty cable, across the arm and down to the crusher. Setting his mouth in a grim line, it became only too clear what was going to happen to his brother and friends if he didn't put a stop to it.

He sprinted across the yard towards the crane and quickly climbed the metal ladder up to the cab. Peering over the edge, he saw a man manipulating the controls. Power's was so engrossed in his work he failed to sense Frank's presence. Frank took another look at the truck, which was now swinging wildly above the crusher and realised that if he didn't act immediately, his friend's prison would be dropped into the machine. He crouched and sprang inside.

Wayne turned in surprise, his hands leaving the controls and instinctively moving towards the gun in his jacket pocket. "YOU? I hoped you we're dead!" he exclaimed.

"In that case, say hello to the ghost who's come back to haunt you!" Frank drew his fist back and punched him squarely in the jaw, jolting Wayne back so hard that he cracked his head against metalwork behind.

Power's brought his hand up to his mouth and probed, looked and saw red on his fingers and tasted blood. Looking back at Frank, his mouth turned into an angry sneer.

They squared up for battle and launched simultaneously, grabbing each other by the lapels. Wayne swung Frank sideways in an attempt to hit his head off the cab wall, but his shoulder hit instead. Frank made a spear hand and thrust it up and under Powers ribs. Wayne lost his balance and fell backwards. Frank loomed above him, coming in for the kill, but Wayne tucked his knees into his chest and kicked Frank in the midsection, flinging him back out the way he'd just come in.

The four teenagers charged the door as one and smashed into it using their shoulders. The truck swung so violently that they lost their balances and fell. Only moments before Biff had finally managed to untie Chet. He was at the pins and needles stage, but was so engrossed in their present plight he didn't have the luxury of time to give it a second thought. The door hadn't budged an inch, so they picked themselves up, stood back and repeated the exercise, getting the same non-result.

"Okay, this isn't working," shouted Joe, leaning against the wall for balance. "All we're managing to do is make the whole structure lurch out of control," he looked up at the extensive tearing to the roof caused by the claw and a mad plan formed in his mind. "Everyone, remove your jackets. Biff, you're the tallest, reach up and line the edge of the torn metal in that large hole, we're going to climb out of here."

"I won't be able to climb up there!" exclaimed Vanessa pointing for emphasis.

"If you want to live, you're going to have to," Joe said, matter of factly.

"Don't worry, Nessa," assured Chet. "We're here to help you."

And then they heard a gunshot ring out.

Frank managed to snatch a handhold, cutting short his plunge to the ground, grasped the other side of the opening and hoisted himself back inside, coming face-to-face with the gun. Reflexes taking control, he grabbed Wayne's wrist and pushed the revolver away and down. The gun went off with a deafening roar, tearing into the crane's controls, causing sparks to leap out and the crane's engine to stall.

He couldn't help it, Frank started to laugh loudly, realising that his friends were out of immediate danger.

They grappled, Powers' face twisted into a grimace as he tried to force his gun hand towards his opponent's face. The revolver went off again, this time taking out the window sending glass showering down on them. Frank forced Wayne's hand over the window frame and he sank his wrist into the jagged glass.

Screaming, Powers let go of the gun, sending it spinning into the night and yanked his injured hand from Frank's grasp.

"That was for Joe!"

Wayne began to realise he was outclassed by a younger and fitter man, and with one last desperate bid to win, launched himself forward to shove his opponent fully from the cab. Frank backed up allowing the man's momentum to work against him and carry his weight forward. Leaning precariously out of the doorway, at the last possible second, Frank let go with one hand and swung out into thin air, and then helped Wayne on his way out of the cab and down to the ground with a hand against waistband – screaming as he plummeted. There was a sickening thud and Frank looked down to his nemeses lying prone on the ground.

"And that was for me!"

Frank climbed down beside Wayne, gingerly probed the side of his neck, feeling a strong, regular pulse. He got his breath back and climbed back up into the crane to try and lower the delivery truck safely to the ground. "Joe?" he yelled.

"Frank? Is that you?" he heard Joe's surprised reply, after a pause.

"Yep, the old Frank. I'm back Bro! Are you all in one piece?" He grinned, hearing his friends all whoop for joy.

"Just about, but Callie's not with us, I think she's up front, we felt the door open just before we were launched into the air."

Frank cupped his hands together. "Callie?" he bellowed and everyone fell silent, hoping for a reply.

"Any luck?" asked Biff.

"No, the windows are probably wound up, so she can't hear me."

"Perhaps she's gagged?" suggested Chet.

"Thanks for that positive thought Chet! It's so good that we can rely on you for your sensitivity," said Frank, looking at control box. "Hold tight guys, I'm going to try and lower you." He surveying the ruined wires and burned plastic doubtfully. Clicking every switch, he found that the only one that bore fruit was the overhead light. "It's a no-go, guys, the controls are totally shot to pieces – literally, actually."

"In that case, come out onto the arm and give us a hand up, we're going to have to climb through one of the tears," Joe yelled up.

Frank looked and saw the jackets hanging over the raw edges of the torn metalwork and understood Joe's plan. Pulling his arm into his sleeve, Frank cleared the broken glass from around the edge of the window frame before cocking a leg over and climbing out to make his way gingerly along the crane's arm. He was soon lying on his stomach, grinning stupidly down at his friend's upturned faces, lit in the moonlight.

"You got your memory back then?" asked Biff grinning back. Frank nodded.

"Thank goodness for that," said Joe. "You've been a real pain in the behind!"

"You can talk! Anyway, I was under the impression you were meeting the lovely Vanessa tonight for a secret rendezvous," he smirked, aware that he was dropping Joe right in it.

"What does he mean by that?" asked Vanessa glaring at her boyfriend.

"Nothing," he promised and looked back up at his brother. "Good one Frank!" he whined. "You wait till I get out of here, you won't…FRANK LOOK OUT!"

Frank began to turn and instantly took a brutal kick up under the ribs. It was delivered with sufficient force as to launch him bodily into the air. He felt his hip hit the side of the crane arm, and before he could react, he was free falling out of control through the air and landing on roof of the truck with a resounding thud, his weight sending the vehicle into another wild swing. He had landed onto his side, disorientated, his lungs burning and his body complaining, but he was being denied him the air he so desperately required. The guys inside the truck were all sent flying as one.

Frank's heavy landing was followed by another, softer bump as Wayne jumped down onto the roof next to Frank and steadied himself with one hand on the thick cable. He delivered another punishing kick, flipping Frank over onto his back, ensuring once and for all that his nemesis would be unable to defend himself further.

Powers got down onto his hands and knees for balance and began crawling. Sensing he was coming after him, Frank tried to will his body into some sort of action but was barely conscious and found breathing still a big problem – he knew now that escape was futile.

Soon, Wayne was kneeling astride him and delivering a final, stinging punch to the side of Frank's face, so hard that to Frank it felt like his cheekbone had exploded. Power's finally pushed something cold up under his chin – the older Hardy brother guessed correctly it was the gun he had stupidly left down on the ground. Looking up, through the cobwebs he saw Wayne's face moving in and out of focus, grinning maniacally, covered in blood from a head-wound. "This is where we part company, Kid!" he snarled.

"Leave him alone!" screamed Vanessa.

"Don't worry, girly, you'll get your turn."

"Hey, Wayne," shouted Joe, trying desperately to attract his attention and buy time for his brother. "What have you done with Callie?"

"She's up front, I think I might have killed her though."

"Wha…what?" whispered Frank, his breaths now coming in short, ragged spurts.

"Yeah," he laughed. "She had a beautiful thin neck."

"You stinking coward!" screamed Biff, enraged.

Wayne ignored his comment "I'm bored with this conversation now, say goodbye to your friend Kids!"

"NO!" Joe shouted, launching himself at the opening the claw had created. He grabbed with both hands and attempted to haul himself out. However, in his weakened state, his arm would not hold his weight and he fell back.

"I'm going to enjoy this!"

Frank closed his eyes, listening to the hammer being drawn back and his brother's anguished cries, knowing he'd reached the end of the road. He waited for the roar of an explosion, wondering if he would actually hear it before he died.

"I don't think so," said a cool voice that didn't belong to either Powers, or any of his friends.

Opening his eyes again, Frank saw a wonderful site. Con Riley was lying flat, leaning out over the arm above Powers with his police issue gun resting against the back of his head. "How you doing, Frank?" he asked.

"Better - now that you're here."

Wayne's face held the expression of a man with a difficult choice – finish his prey off, or surrender. Finally, after a long drawn out pause, he slowly raised his hands in submission and Riley took the revolver and tossed it over the side, down to Officer Anderson who was waiting below. In the distance the sounds of sirens could be heard approaching. Riley hauled Powers off Frank by the scruff of the neck whilst reading him his rights and then cuffed his wrist to the railings above his head.

"FRANK, FRANK?" yelled Joe.

Frank slowly slid himself over the tear and looked over into the interior of the truck. He saw his brother sitting on the floor with Chet and Vanessa both trying to calm him. "Hey!" Frank called. Joe's tear streaked face looked up and he climbed quickly to his feet. Frank reached through he gap and Joe grasped his reaching hand eagerly with both of his. "I'm okay Joe, I'm okay. Vanessa, look after him, I'm going after Callie."

"Okay."

Frank rolled onto his side and, holding his ribs, scrambled to the front of the truck and leant over to see into the interior. He saw his girlfriend still laid out across the seats. "Callie?" he yelled, badly frightened.

"Frank, is she okay?" called Riley.

Frank shook his head and called again. Receiving zero response, he sat down, kicked in a window, turned and eased himself gingerly through the opening, gritting his teeth against the pain in his side. Crouching beside Callie, he felt for a pulse and, though weak, was greatly relieved to find one. He unbuttoned her shirt, pulled it aside and angrily surveyed the deep, purple bruising to her throat. Supporting the nape of her neck, he pulled her too him, untied her hands and then laid her gently back down. "Callie, wake up, it's me, Frank," he pleaded, stroking her face, a lump in his throat. "Please wake up, baby." He was rewarded thirty seconds later when she moved slightly and began muttering. He put his ear close to her mouth and strained to hear.

"Where the hell have you been?" she whispered.

"What do you mean? I'm only four days late!" He hugged her, laughing through the tears.


	18. Chapter 18

Frank leant on the window frame looking down at the fire truck as it was rolled slowly into position. Four fire officers stood beneath, one called up to him. "Can you open the door? We're going to raise the ladder against the footplate. Sit still, we don't want the vehicle moving any more than necessary."

Frank gave a 'thumbs up' sign, pulled the catch and pushed it wide. There was a ladder already leaning against the other door, in the hope it would act as a counter brace and give the whole structure more stability.

Joe and the others were waiting below. Earlier, Con Riley had retrieved the keys from Powers before he was taken into custody and the teenagers had been helped safely down to the ground.

Frank worked his way back to his girlfriend and crouched down. "Won't be long now," he told her.

Callie was still stretched across the seats and awake, though still feeling groggy. "I don't like heights," she croaked.

"Just shut your eyes and don't look down," he replied, kissing the back of her hand. She snorted in reply.

He watched as the top of the ladder appeared, followed two minutes later by the friendly face of a fireman. He climbed in and had a quick look at Callie. "I'm going to have a medic look you over before you're moved," he gave instructions into a two-way radio and turned to speak to Frank. "What's your name son?"

"Frank".

"Pleased to meet you Frank. Can you climb down the ladder and wait with your friends, we're going to need as much room as possible to get Callie down to ground level."

Frank gave his girlfriend's hand a squeeze and made his way carefully to the door, there was another fire officer waiting to help him down. Upon reaching ground level he passed the medic who was on his way to climb the ladder. Another paramedic stopped him and offered medical assistance as Frank was still favouring his ribs slightly. He thanked her, but said no, anxious to meet with his brother. Finally, he was able to join his friends who were still deep in conversation with Officers' Riley and Anderson.

Everyone fell silent as he and Joe turned to one another.

"It's good to see you Frank."

"You too."

Each regarded the other quizzically for a few long seconds then threw their arms around one another and hugged tightly, Joe squeezed harder, burying his face into Frank's shoulder.

"Ouch, watch the ribs, Buster!"

Joe released his brother and laughed. They stood still gripping onto each other's shoulders, grinning inanely. Frank watched as Joe's eyes shifted from his face to over his shoulder and his smile faltered slightly. "What is it?" asked Frank.

Giving his brother a shove out of the way, Joe started running like mad towards the road.

"Where's he going?" asked Con Riley surprised.

Frank shrugged his shoulders, watching as Joe vaulted a low fence and charged around the front of a black car. He wrenched the door open and yanked the not-very-tall occupant out onto the sidewalk.

"It's the guy whose been following us around!" exclaimed Biff, starting to run, the others following close behind.

Joe had by now unhanded the driver and was standing back with his mouth gaping. The others caught up and Frank stopped short, his face bearing exactly the same expression as his brother. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

Gillian smiled "Saving your butts."

For the first time, they noticed she was wearing a police uniform.

"I don't understand," said Frank.

"I've been following your brother around for days now."

"Why?" he asked, bemused.

"It was the Chief's idea. He warned Joe off the case, but knowing how stubborn he is the Chief was afraid Joe was going to get himself into something he couldn't handle, so assigned me as a sort of unofficial bodyguard."

Joe clicked his fingers, "Of course, that's where I saw you before - sitting in the Chief's office the day me and Dad came to look at mug-shots!"

"No wonder Callie couldn't trace your plate number," laughed Biff.

"Callie?" asked Frank turning to Biff baffled.

"Yes, Callie – you've really got that girl trained well in the art of hacking!"

"OH, that reminds me - Mr Joseph Hardy," began Frank, turning to his brother and clamping a hand on his shoulder, "When I get home, I'm changing the password on my PC!"

"Uh-oh," said Joe quietly. "I was hoping you'd have forgotten that by now."

Gillian cut in, "Let me introduce myself properly: Office Gillian Sully, at your service," she said, offering her hand to everyone to shake.

Frank laughed. "So you're the driver of the black sedan I read about in Joe's notes?"

"Yep. I had so much trouble keeping up with him, I decided to infiltrate from the inside – Mrs Hardy wouldn't let me get close enough though!"

"That's my Mom, plays fair all the way along the line."

"Hang on a sec," said Vanessa, the cogs turning in her head. "She's Frank's mysterious biker girlfriend isn't she?"

"Yes she is," Joe confirmed.

"Girlfriend?" asked Biff and Chet in unison.

"Don't ask, and don't you _dare_ tell Callie. I was confused, okay?" said Frank.

"But, this is almost _too_ good an opportunity to miss," protested Chet.

"If you so much as hint about this to Callie, I'll…I'll…I'll throw Biff at you!"

"Hey!" protested Biff.

"Look, here comes your girlfriend," said Gillian nodding towards the truck.

Frank turned and saw Callie, who was strapped to a backboard, being lifted onto a gurney. He ran across and walked beside her as she was wheeled towards the ambulance, Con Riley was keeping step on the other side.

"How you feeling, Callie?" asked Riley concerned.

"I think I'll live to fight another day…oh…before I go, I've got something for you," she poked her hand through the straps and handed Con the document and photographs she'd retrieved from her back pocket earlier. "See these children get back to their real parents."

Frank, Joe, Callie and Vanessa were walking through the trees at Jefferson Park, blanket and picnic basket in hand.

"Well, second time lucky," said Callie, who was wearing a high-neck t-shirt that hid the bruising.

"Maybe, this time, we'll actually manage to eat a sandwich," muttered Joe who was wearing a sling again.

Vanessa threw down the blanket and they all slouched down.

"Now, where were we, before being so rudely interrupted six days ago?" said Frank placing his index fingers to his temples. "Oh yes…I was stealing a kiss from Callie's cherry red lips!" He threw himself on top of her and his head drew down to once again to claim his prize. Just as their lips were about to touch, Joe's cell phone began ringing loudly.

"I don't believe this!" said Frank, sitting back up frustrated.

Joe answered. "Hello? Oh, hi Mom…What?…Now this minute? But we just got here!…Okay, see you in about ten…yeah…yeah…I told you, we'll see you in about ten minutes…okay bye," he clicked his phone off, looked at the others and sighed resignedly. "Mom needs us back at home, the police are waiting to speak to us, they've got some more questions they want answering.

"But, we've given them a full statement and handed all the evidence over, what else can we possibly tell them?" asked Vanessa mystified.

"Yeah, and they picked up John, Jack and Len, and got full confessions," pointed out Callie.

Joe shrugged his shoulders. "All I know is that they're waiting for us and Mom has ordered us home."

They stood reluctantly, gathered their possessions and headed back to Vanessa's car.

"I think we should give up going on picnics, they seem to be a non-starter," sighed Callie disappointed.

They were standing on the driveway when they heard the sound of two cars approaching, judging from the noise of creaking and back firing, one was Chet's hotrod. They turned as one to watch Biff and Chet pulling up onto the driveway.

"You too?" asked Frank as they stepped out of their cars.

"Yeah, your Mom phoned me and told me the police want to ask some more questions," answered Biff.

"Me too," said Chet. "I really hope this is important, because I had to leave my brunch behind."

"You and your stomach!" laughed Frank as he opened the door.

"SURPRISE!" yelled a room full of people.

They stood shocked and paralysed in the doorway.

"Don't just stand there gaping, come in and enjoy the party," laughed Laura.

"It really _was_ worth missing brunch for," said Chet, bounding into the room.

They walked through the throngs of guests, recognising friends and relations.

Fenton stood in their way. "They're some people in the garden who would like to thank you all personally."

They walked through the patio doors and were met by the parents and children they'd helped to rescue. Luke took Joe by the hand and pulled him onto the lawn with the others following.

"We bought you presents," said Luke.

They were each handed a small parcel, the contents of which held gold medallions. They were each inscribed with their names and on the back was etched _'From the Children of Bayport – Thank You'_.

**THE END**

_Thank you for all your kind reviews, all of them great. :-) Stranger and Stranger was my first story and it was written in 2000. As a contrast, I will next post up one of my more recent stories. So watch this space!_


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